


Sweet Dreams (aren't made of what you'd think)

by rimle



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) - Fandom
Genre: Awkward Peter Maximoff, Canon Disabled Character, Charles Gets His Hair Back, Charles Is a Darling, Erik Has Feelings, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Humor, M/M, Post-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), with a tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-07-11 20:57:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 32,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7069843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rimle/pseuds/rimle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles convinces Erik to stay and train the x-men. He soon finds himself falling for his old friend.</p><p>Meanwhile, Peter is trying to spend more time with his father, struggling to tell him the truth about his lineage. </p><p>Erik misunderstands the boy's attention as somethings else, and eventually turns to Charles for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X-men Apocalypse spoilers ahead. Kinda. Well I mean this continues right where the movie ended.
> 
> Based on this [tumblr post.](https://the-mini-muse.tumblr.com/post/145090871481/cherik-story-idea-9-charles-did-convince-erik-to)

"You sure I can't convince you to stay?"

_With those eyes, you could._

"You're psychic, Charles", Erik said, not sure if he wished Charles had heard his thoughts or not. "You can convince me to do anything."

He was already walking away, had already turned his back to Charles. Why, though? He didn't know where he would go, or what he would do.

Why was Charles letting him do this again?

"Good bye, old friend."

Erik stopped, just for two seconds, three would have made him turn around.

"Good luck, professor."

And so Erik left him, left all of them behind. Because that was what he did, he went his own way.

What good would he be in here, anyway? Parents wouldn't exactly be ecstatic to hear he lived in the same house with their children, no matter how Moira had tried to clear his name.

No, it was good for everyone if he would just let them be. Charles would have convinced him to stay if he'd wanted Erik here, and he hadn't. He had seen they still didn't agree on things, he had decided it was better not to stop Erik.

So this was it, then.

Erik stepped out of the mansion, down the stairs into the driveway and the garden, when he heard the wheelchair behind him.

"Erik", Charles called. "Wait."

He did.

\---

If Erik hadn't build those little ramps all around the house for him, Charles wouldn't have been able to reach him in time. Maybe Erik had known it, maybe he hadn't, but there he was now, waiting for Charles at the end of the stairs.

Charles hadn't believed Erik would actually leave, not this time.

"Are you seriously going to make me use my powers on you?" Charles asked, laughed, even though his smile faded into something more serious.

"It's not like I'd be able to stop you", Erik answered, a small smile of relief hardly visible on his face. "I don't have my helmet."

_This idiot._

"If you want to stay, stay." Charles leaned on the left armrest of his metallic chair. "If you want me to talk you into it, I will."

Erik avoided his eyes, watched the children playing on the yard. He didn't say anything, he wasn't going to let Charles see that he wanted to stay.

Charles didn't need his powers to see it.

"We need teachers, Erik", he said, trying to reach out to that part of Erik that knew what he was supposed to do. What he needed. "And we could use someone who'd train the x-men with Raven."

This was probably what they both needed. For him to stay.

Erik sighed. "Can you imagine me as a teacher, Charles?"

"Of course I can."

Erik shook his head, closing his eyes so he didn't need to meet the sincere look on Charles' face when mumbling: "Of course."

Charles could only imagine the doubts Erik was having, about himself, about the students and their parents...

"You'd be an excellent teacher", Charles said, driving his chair just a bit closer to Erik. "We will let everyone know what a good person you are. The children will look up to you. You can teach them languages, history, whatever you wish. And I'm sure Raven would love to work with you."

"I appreciate your offer." Erik started pacing, aimlessly through the wide green fields around the mansion, his hands in his pockets. "But I need to go home."

"We are your home", Charles told him, following him between the trees, dodging a frisbee that almost hit his head.

Erik stopped for a moment.

Maybe it was a bit unfair, to use almost the exact same words Erik himself had said to his wife when trying to convince his family leave their home in Poland.

_'We are her family.'_

Charles had seen it, had felt the love and the fear Erik had felt, and the memory of his lost, far heavier than anyone should be forced to bear.

But this was the truth, surely Erik knew it.

"You can take all the time you need", Charles said, staying few feet back from Erik, giving him space. "Rest, mourn, think about it, as long as you feel. Just... Don't leave again."

He heard Erik let out a soundless laugh. "So you really want me to stay?"

"I do."

Charles followed Erik as he went through the children playing, running and lying in the shadows of the trees.

They arrived to the pond, where they were left alone.

"And I believe I'm not the only one."

Erik said nothing.

They stayed there, side by side by the pond, both of them looking at the calm water reflecting the bright blue sky along with all the green surrounding them.

"What happened to that tree?" Erik pointed at the old tree that was lying on the ground across the pond, split in half. "I thought it was your favorite."

"Oh", Charles chuckled. "We had a little incident with one of the new students. I believe you met Scott?"

"The one with red glasses?"

"Yes. Alex's brother", Charles said. "He's part of the x-men now."

"You do have a handful with these kids, don't you." Erik finally let himself look at Charles.

"Indeed." Charles couldn't help his own smile. "And I'd be happy to welcome all the help I can get."

Erik gazed upon the pond for a while, but only for the dramatic effect, for Charles could tell he had already made up his mind.

"Maybe I should give it a try", Erik said. "I'd better get the fanciest room in the house, though."

"Of course." Charles grinned. "You can even have my room if it makes you happy."

Erik smiled at him. "Calm down, professor, I was just joking."

"I know", Charles said and turned his chair. "Shall we get back then? Or do you want to stay outside and look into the paperwork later?"

Erik went with him.

"I'm glad you're staying, I really am", Charles told Erik as they made their way back to the house, to his home. _Their_ home, now even more perfect than before.

"Because, you know", Charles added at the front door. "Hank doesn't like chess."

How good it felt to hear Erik laugh again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will have 100% more Quicksilver in it.
> 
> Thank you for reading! ^^ let me hear your thoughts~


	2. Tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys.... there's so many of you?
> 
> I.... Wow. I'm speechless. Thank you so much for being so awesome already! I hope i can meet your expectations~

Erik still thought Charles couldn't possibly know how he felt by just looking into his head.

However, Charles seemed to know what was best for Erik.

Work was a way to keep him going and his mind off of sad things. Erik didn't even take a week off before the beginning of his classes, couple of hours a few times a week. German was popular, a close second to French.

No one seemed to be afraid of him, not even on the first weeks. They all listened to him, asked him questions about the topic (though, one time this girl asked why Erik sometimes wore flannel to class, and not a suit or something like the Professor did), and over all respected him as their teacher.

Erik was starting to understand why Charles was so passionate about his little school and it's endearing students.

Today, he didn't have lessons. Today was one of the days they spent training the x-men.

Raven took over on most days, sometimes she even trained them on her own, so Erik could have a day off. She didn't seem to mind whether she was working alone or with him, which, to Erik, sounded like an improvement.

Today, they were training close combat and self-defense, simple mundane things that might still turn out to be useful, for example if they wouldn't be able to use their powers, for some reason.

They had to pair up, they didn't have an even number so Raven had to train with Kurt. She was only slightly awkward when she did.

As he watched them training, Erik couldn't help but notice some similarities between them. Other than them both being, well, blue. Little things, probably not even noticeable if one didn't know Raven as well as Erik (or Charles) did.

Given what Erik had known about Raven and Azazel's relationship, he thought it odd that Raven didn't seem to be putting the pieces together yet.

Or then she was and just ignored it. That was more likely.

Anyway, it wasn't Erik's business. Having a kid one didn't know about, that was a huge thing, even if the kid was already as old as Kurt. It was life changing, and it was not easy to go on telling someone about.

But Erik did feel happy for her. After all, she got to spend time with her son. Did it really matter if he, or neither of them, knew the truth or not?

When their training session came to an end, Erik and Raven let the students free. The room was soon empty, except for Erik who was the one to make sure the room was locked up.

And _him._

That kid stayed after the others left, again. Usually, he stayed just to see the others leave before him, but this time he kept standing there after a few minutes had passed.

Peter, the boy that had helped Erik escape the Pentagon all those years ago. His silver hair was pretty easy to remember, along with his rather... speedy personality.

Erik had grown to like the kid, though, like he had with the others, as well. They were hard working, good students.

Of course they were still teenagers, 'youngsters' as Charles' silly little title for the school stated. But even teenagers could be decent human beings. If Erik could do it, so could they.

Peter was standing surprisingly still, hands crossed on his chest, his eyes looking like they were searching something from the pale walls.

Erik decided he would wait for one minute more for the kid to open his mouth and tell what was it on his mind that got him so nervous.

\---

Erik. He was supposed to call him _Erik._

Not _Magneto_. Not _The Evil Magnet Man._  Not _Prison Break Bro_.

And definitely not _Dad_.

At least for now, at least not out loud.

_Erik._

"Hey, _Dude_." That worked too. "You got a minute?"

Erik was already looking at him. "What is it?"

Peter moved uncomfortably after standing still for way too long, trying to control his nerves. He kept still by pressing his crossed arms against his chest.

"I, umh... the thing we trained today, with the strangling and the overthrow", Peter said. "I didn't quite get it."

Erik frowned.

Peter almost snorted. _Dad, please. It's not that surprising._

"You trained it for three hours."

"Well, yeah." Peter nodded. Fuck, he was already sounding like an idiot. Though, that wasn't anything new to him. "I'm not that fast with the whole learning thing."

"I see", Erik said, not moving closer to him, but not leaving yet, either. That was good.

 _Of fucking course he saw it_ , Peter thought. _He has seen me fail at least two of his courses. Twice._

"I mean, like, you know", Peter went on with this train wreck. "I could ask Raven to show it to me again but... She's a girl. And she's scary as fuck."

_Breathe in, breathe out. It's no big deal, dude. He's just your Dad. Who just doesn't know it yet. But it's cool, it's fine, he'll like you, it's in his genes, right?_

"So I was thinking that maybe you could teach me the thing?"

Erik said nothing for half a second. Peter couldn't take the silence.

"Not like _now_ ", he said. "It's dinner time and I'm starving and you must be starving, but, like, you free tomorrow? Or the day after that, or next week, or it really doesn't matter, I got the time to do anything anytime, so..."

He pressed his mouth shut to make himself stop talking.

Erik shrugged.

"Sure", he said, like it wasn't a big deal, like it hadn't taken Peter weeks to find the courage to say or ask him anything. "Tomorrow's fine. Meet me here after lunch?"

"Yes!" Peter had a class, something about something he didn't even remember, so it didn't matter if he missed it. Not at all. Damn, he would even miss the lunch for his Dad right now. "That works well, dude, see you then."

Erik nodded, Peter took it as 'class dismissed' and ran out of the training room.

He visited the kitchen before locking himself up in his bedroom.

The sandwich he had made for himself stayed untouched on the table, for Peter was suddenly sure he wouldn't be able to eat anything before tomorrow.

He laid on his bed, hands under his head, music playing loud from his headphones.

 _Breathe in, breathe out_.

He had been planning this for weeks. Maybe even months. He had known he'd be nervous as fuck, and could you really blame him?

This wasn't that simple.

The guy had lost his family. The guy had almost destroyed the world after that.

One didn't simply go telling a guy he had a son. Especially if the son was as messed up excuse of a son as Peter was and would be.

Sure, Erik seemed fine now, happy even. And the professor was making sure he stayed that way and that _everyone_  knew Erik was a good guy. Seriously, if you ever dared to look (let along think) funny about the magnet man, you'd have the professor screaming in your head to stop immediately.

Peter chuckled to himself. Those two sure were fun to watch.

But even if Erik was happy enough, Peter thought he should still be careful... At least for now.

He sighed. As the slow hours went by, he realized he probably wouldn't be able to sleep any more than he could eat.

At 1am, he ran to see if Ororo wanted a sandwich.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just really like Erik in flannel.
> 
> I have the orange belt in Hapkido, and even though that isn't too impressive i do know something about self-defense and stuff... Time to put some of that knowledge into use at some point~
> 
> I has tumblr: [humanityssweetest](http://humanityssweetest.tumblr.com/) feel free to stalk me~
> 
> Thank you for reading! (yes, i will say this after every chapter.) ^^


	3. Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is turning out to be slower burn than i intended... At least it will burn longer.  
> 

"So. You gonna tell him tomorrow?"

"I don't know." Peter shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not."

Ororo nodded and took another bite of her sandwich. She wasn't too picky, she said she didn't care it had stayed on Peter's table for hours. Or that it was probably dryer than the sand in Cairo.    

"But you did speak to him", she said. She scratched her head,and  Peter smiled as he remembered how nice it was to hang out with someone who had somewhat crazy hair, too. "That's progress."

"Yeah", Peter said. "I guess."

Peter didn't know how many people Mystique (or Raven? Damn, why did they all had to have so many names?) had told about his Father-situation. He wanted to believe she had only told Ororo, for she was a big fan of Raven's. Maybe the blue lady had wanted to impress her with the latest gossips, or something.

He wasn't angry at her for doing that. It had turned out to be a great thing for his nerves to have someone to talk about his Dad. Other than his Mom, that was.

"I mean, it wasn't exactly a long and meaningful conversation", he continued, fixing his position. The carpet covering the wooden floor of Ororo's room had a hole on the spot where Peter usually sat. That was because he didn't actually sit, he was constantly moving, his legs, his feet, his butt. 

He couldn't (nor did he want to) help it, so he had decided it would be better to sacrifice only one part of the carpet, instead of changing his spot and slowly destroying the whole thing.

She snorted from the bed. "Did you let him talk at all?"

"Yes", Peter answered. "I let him say at least... Five sentences."

"That ain't bad." She sounded way too surprised. "You are a brave little one."

"Shut up", he laughed.

Ororo did too, but her laugh was cut by a yawn. 

She hadn't been asleep, but she had already been wearing her night clothes, a tank top and undies.

Neither of them cared if he saw her like that, he was always welcomed to his friend's room. Even if it was the middle of the flipping night.

"Don't we have a class tomorrow after lunch?" she remembered.

"Yeah", Peter said as his stomach groaned, since it still didn't agree with Peter's feeling of _too damn nervous to even think about eating._ "I'm skipping it for him."

Ororo shook her head and mumbled something about a stalker. 

"Why are you attending to the classes at all, though?" she asked after finishing her sandwich. "You're old enough to be a teacher here."

Peter rolled his eyes at her. "Can you see me as a teacher?"

"You'd be a fun teacher, for sure."

For sure, yeah. _'Good morning class, today we're going to learn how to be a pro at _Pac-Man_.'_

"Nah", he said. "I could use some learning. It's not like they teach you mutant history and all the other stuff in high school. Or at least when I was there they didn't."

"They did have French though, didn't they?" she asked.

"They didn't have my Dad as a teacher."

"Good point."

It was late, very late, and Peter almost felt bad for keeping her up. Though, she would tell him when she'd want to sleep.

And she did.

"Not that I don't want to help you." She yawned again, letting herself fall on her back. "Or listen to you, or talk with you, or whatever you wanted when you came here. But you should really get some sleep. And me too."

"Don't think I'll be able to", Peter admitted. He crossed his legs and rocked back and forth. "I'd just lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling, unable to eat or sleep, like some fucking teenage girl in love. No offence."

"I'm not in love", Ororo pointed out, lifting her legs up and swinging them slowly in the air.

"Yeah", Peter said. "But you're a teenage girl."

"Fair enough."

Peter stared at the door. "I don't really feel like going back to my own room at all, actually", he thought out loud.

"If you wanna stay here, it's fine." She rolled over and buried her face in the pillow. "I don't really mind. As long as you don't do anything stupid while I'm asleep."

"Hey", he protested. "That was one time, bro."

"That one time was enough", Ororo said into the pillow. _"Bro."_

Peter would have apologized, but he wasn't really that sorry. 

"Hope my floor is soft enough for you." She hid under the blankets, her eyes already closed. "Good night, Peter."

_\---_

"Stacy", Charles tried for the last time. "Go back to bed, please."

"But I want to hear a story!"

Charles sighed, but smiled to the girl.

It was way over midnight, how on earth was she even awake anymore?

"I already told you a story today."

"Yeeeah", Stacy said, leaning hear chin on Charles's knees. "But Trixie wants to hear it too."

"Well, Trixie", Charles leaned down to talk to her stuffed kitten. "It's one bedtime story a night, love. No exceptions."

Stacy giggled, but shook her head announcing: "Not fair!"

She stared at him with that determination of a young child, and Charles was quite sure that in the end he would have to obey her and her stuffed animal.

"It's very fair, kid."

Charles' head turned immediately with the sound of Erik's voice. He would have turned his chair as well, if there hadn't been a little girl hanging on it.

Erik was in his night clothes, walking to them, his feet bare. 

Wasn't he cold? The floor was awfully chilly. 

"Erik."

Was anyone sleeping tonight?

"Charles. Stacy." Erik didn't sound sleepy at all. "Why are you still up?"

Charles smiled at him. "I could ask the same from you, my friend."

"Can _you_ tell me a story?" asked Stacy, who Charles had somehow forgotten was still there.

"Stacy, let's not bother Er-" Charles was silenced by Erik's hand on his shoulder.

"I'm afraid all of my stories have a sad ending", Erik said from next to him and knelt down to meet the girl's eyes. "But I can sing you a song to help you fall asleep."

Stacy gave it a short thought, before her nod of approval. "Okay."

Charles stayed in the corridor and watched through the open door as Erik took Stacy to her bed, covered her and Trixie the cat up in blankets. Erik sat next to her and smoothed her hair, she smiled.

Erik sang, the song of his people, of his mother and his father and their parents before them. Every word, every note, was full of emotions Charles realized he could see, could feel, but never fully understand.

Watching him sing, Charles didn't see the man he had been, the one who had killed all those people, a man driven by hate and pain.

No, this was the Erik Charles knew he could be, the good, gentle man he was. 

The man he would always be.

But Charles did understand the sad smile on Erik's face. For Stacy was around the same age Nina had been. 

Erik wasn't controlled by his grief, but it was still there.

When song came to an end, Stacy had closed her eyes. Erik placed his hand on her head one last time before getting up.

When he came back to Charles, his eyes were full of tears, few falling on his cheeks. 

Charles wished he could get up and wipe them off.

"Dreams?" he asked, though, he alteady knew the answer. 

They didn't call them nightmares, for in the dreams Erik was with his family again. Living a simpler life, a happy life, in peace.

Erik's voice was quiet when he answered. "Dreams." 

But every time Erik would wake up and remember his reality. And in that reality, his happiness wasn't shared with his child or his wife.

_A wife._

The word still felt heavy on Charles' mind.

He was aware of Erik's... Preferences. He knew they didn't only include women, Charles had checked that over twenty years ago. Back then, he had thought there had been something.

And maybe there had, maybe there hadn't. It hardly mattered now.

Still, he had wanted to know if it would have been possible. And it had.

So the fact that Erik had had a wife shouldn't have been a problem, to anyone, in any case.

Why was he even thinking about this? It was incredibly rude to think such things when Erik was still going through his lost.

Besides, they were co-workers now. Old friends. It was that simple, there shouldn't have be anything to think about.

_A friend._

They made their way down the corridor, in silence. As they passed the many rooms of the mansion, Charles felt two minds staying in one of the them. He didn't stop, didn't say anything. They didn't have any strict rules about boys' visiting girls' rooms, and girls' visiting boys' rooms, and besides, one of them seemed to be asleep, so why bother them. 

Erik didn't seem to notice anything, of course.

He was walking so close to Charles, and Charles had to be so careful not to drive over Erik's feet with his chair. The bloody corridor was wide enough for both of them, why did he have to be so close?

Not that Charles minded.

Though, he had to fight to keep his eyes off of Erik and his worn-out gray t-shirt that fitted him rather nicely, so he would't drive himself accidentally down the stairs or through the wall.

_A friend._

"I got the chess table ready in my room", Charles said, though, he knew it would be best if they'd both just go to sleep. It was so late... "You fancy a game?"

But Erik wasn't going to get any more sleep tonight, so Charles decided it would be best to keep him company, to be there for him. For his friend.

Erik showed him the tiniest smile.

_His friend._

"I'm always up for a game", Erik said and followed Charles down the ramp, across the hall towards his room.

And even if it felt wrong to be happy about something caused by someone else's suffering, Charles could't help but cherish every moment he got to spend with Erik.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This could have been two separate chapters, but since they would have been kinda short ones, I decided to go with this. The next chapter will skip to the next day bc i want Erik and Peter training already.
> 
> Thank you for reading~ ^^


	4. Today

Erik had fallen asleep on Charles' couch. 

He woke up into the morning light shining on his eyes, reminding him that he should get up. Why couldn't he have his dreamless sleep a few minutes longer, now that he finally had got it?

And the blanket that had somehow ended up around Erik while he had been asleep, it was warm and nicer than the chilly air of the room. He really didn't want to get up.

At least he felt ok. He usually did by morning, for everything always felt so much worse after the midnight.

In the light of the day, he could contemplate things without the immense grief and anger. Or, more accurately, without letting them control him. Without feeling like one of Charles' students (okay, technically, they were now Erik's students as well), helpless, lost.

But no matter how lost, they always got help, Charles was always there for them. And so he had been for Erik, more than Erik even realized.

And for that, Erik was grateful. For that, he would use every opportunity to show Charles he had been right. Right about him.

Singing to Stacy, remembering Nina. It had hurt, but it had been worth it. For it made sure Erik wouldn't forget what he had had. What he had been. All the beautiful, powerful memories, now not just of his Mother, but of Magda and Nina, too.

There would be no new memories of them, but it only made the ones he had more valuable. They were a proof that life could be good. That he could be good. 

"Good morning, Erik."

So Charles _had_ still been in the room. Why the hell did he sound so cheerful before 8 am?

"Morning."

How had he changed into his other chair already?

"I'm happy to see you getting some rest." Charles drove his chair around the table and next to the couch. "Even though you fell asleep in the middle of our game."

Erik eyed the table, and indeed, the chess pieces were still there. Erik didn't remember if it had been their second or third. He didn't remember who had won the first games, but it looked like Charles had been winning this one.

Erik shook his head. "I would have gotten more rest if you hadn't woken me up this damn early, Charles."

"I didn't wake you up, you managed that by yourself", Charles pointed out, smiling, and leaned on the left armrest. "You have a class in half an hour. You can take a nap after lunch."

"I have to train Peter after lunch", Erik remembered.

"Oh? I thought Peter had one of my classes", Charles laughed. "Are you trying to steal my students, Erik?"

Erik snorted. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before taking a better look at his friend.

Lately, Charles had been growing his hair back, slow and steady. And even though it was barely a tenth of what it had been, Erik had to admit it looked great.

Not that there had been anything wrong with bald, Erik just preferred the hair. It would be interesting to see how long Charles would let it grow this time.

"I think it's more likely that he's trying to escape your lectures, professor."

Charles let out yet another laugh.

Had he slept at all? He didn't look tired, but they had been up late.  If Charles had gotten any sleep, it had been on his chair, for it would have been too much trouble to move to the bed, even if Hank had designed and built Charles a bunch of funny devices to help him change his chair, his clothes and move to bed without having to use his arms too much.

Though, lifting yourself up and wheeling around all day with a manual chair did miracles to one's biceps. Or, so Erik had observed.

He had never seen Charles actually use any of the machines, but once he had seen Hank running down the hall while Charles had apparently been stuck in somewhere. Erik had gone after Hank, to make sure everything had been okay, but when they had arrived into Charles' room, neither of them had been able to help him. They had only laughed, until their eyes had been wet with tears.

Charles had had tied himself up on the device that helped him to stand up, like he was supposed to. The machine had lifted him up, like it was supposed to. (Hank had thought it would be easier for Charles to pull up his own pants if he was standing.)

Everything had gone well, until one of the straps had snapped and Charles was left hanging, his shoulder up on his ears since the remaining straps went from under his arms.

The poor man had looked like a sad puppet.

Carles had laughed at the whole situation with them after they had gotten him down.

Seeing the machine now, all dusty and unused (Hank had immediately build a new one with better straps) in the corner of the room, Erik felt slightly better about the early morning.

"But Peter controls his power very well", Charles now said, frowning, definitely not reading Erik's mind. Pity. "He shouldn't need your help in handling them."

"He does seem to control his powers, yes", Erik agreed. "He wants help with self defense."

"Ah", Charles said. "I though you were the one making sure everything goes well in the Danger Room, and Raven more the one teaching the martial arts?"

"Yes." Erik placed the blanket down on the couch and stood up. The sooner he would get going, the quicker he would wake up properly. He needed coffee. "But he personally asked me to help him."

"Did he now?" Charles followed him through the room.

Erik understood his surprise, for Peter really didn't need that much help. Thanks to his speed, he could survive without the things they had trained the other day.

Charles new that, too. "Maybe he likes you."

"Or maybe he just doesn't like Raven." Erik stopped at the door and turned to face Charles. "You want to finish our game later today?"

"Of course." Charles smiled. "I hope you'll have a good day, Erik."

"You too."

Erik left Charles to get some coffee before taking a shower, quickly enough to make it to the first class in time.

\---

Peter had drank five cups of coffee, and it had not been a good idea at all.

He was there before Erik, he had decided he would not be late anymore. Ever. That, and he really couldn't think of anything else to do with his free hour and a half than wait.

He didn't have to wait for long, for Erik wasn't late, either. It felt like Peter had only waited for seconds.

"Hello Peter", Erik said as he walked into the training room.

Technically it was just a gym, not even that big, not nearly as impressive as the Danger Room. But it did it's job. It was cozy. If a gym could be cozy.

Peter leaned against the wall, not letting his feet move closer to the man. Or jump on anything. Or run on the walls.

Nope, he would be cool, cool and distant and mature.

"Hi dude, hello, how was lunch, you ate anything good?"

That went well.

Erik looked him, as if trying to slow him down with his eyes. 

"I had a sandwich", he said. "It was good."

"Nice. Cool man, that's awesome", Peter went on. "I had a sandwich too, or I was going to have, I mean not today, I haven't eaten anyting today, I'm not hungry, but last night I was going to have a sandwich, but then I was too - _this doesn't fucking matter let's just move on_. Sorry about my language."

_Here we go again._

Fuck, he had been more chill ten years back as a literal child, when he had been all amazing and cool while helping Dad - _Erik_ out of the Pentagon.

_"You take karate? You know karate, man?"_

It had been stupid, but at least he hadn't been an awkward little shit. Why was it so difficult now?

 _"I don't know karate",_ Erik had said. _"But I know crazy."_

The memory made Peter grin. At least he had gotten some of his crazy from Erik.

Though, Erik's crazy was mostly ruthless killing and scary world domination stuff... But that was in the past. 

The Erik standing in the same room with him right now, chuckled. Let out a sound of laughter. With a smile on his face. Even though Peter kept acting like a total moron.

 _Yay_ , went Peter's mind.

"Alright, kid."

Had it been anyone else calling Peter a 'kid', Peter would have taken their pants down and run to the hall shouting that 1. the dude or dudette wasn't wearing pants, everyone go look, and 2. don't anyone call him a kid again. He wasn't one anymore.

But this was his Dad. Peter was happy he called him anything in the first place.

"Let's just start", Erik said.

"Yes, dude, let's go, I'm ready." Peter clapped his hands together, not ready at all.

Erik took off his flannel and hang it on a machine Peter guessed was supposed to make your thighs look like you could smash a skull with them. 

"If I'm being honest, I don't think you actually need to learn this", Erik said. "It's unlikely that you'll lose your powers somehow. There won't be many situations you'll need this in."

 _Oh no._ Peter's nerves overheated and died. _Please don't walk away from me, man._

He managed to shrug. "I don't care. I mean, I want to be as good as the others, you know, like, you can never know what happens. I wan to be ready."

Erik looked at him, Peter turned away.

"But if you don't want to teach me, if you got something better to do with your time, it's fine, totally okay", he said to the walls.

"Don't worry about my time", Erik said, even though he was obviously the one who had much less time than in his hands. "I'm just pointing that out, so you know you don't have to worry about it."

"Ah", Peter breathed, looking back at his Dad. "Okay, yes, cool, I see."

Erik stared at him for a while to make sure Peter was staying, and nodded.

"Basically what we want to achieve", Erik said, pacing around the room, "is to tame the one attacking us. We won't start a fight, we just want them to stop whatever they're trying to do. The 'stranglehold' you were talking about, it won't actually strangle them to death. And I'd call it a choke. It'll just make them pass out or fall asleep if you hold tight enough."

"Cool", Peter said, nodding. "Like, a really evil Sandman, or something."

"A really aggressive and strong Sandman, yes", Erik said and smiled again. "You remember anything Raven showed you?"

"Uum, no. Nothing. Can't recall anything, man."

Erik exhaled and moved on explaining the move to Peter.

It really wasn't too complicated. The thing. And, to be honest, Peter did remember some of it. Probably most of it.

For Erik to show the move, Peter had to demonstrate the 'attack' by approaching Erik and trying to push him. But before Peter's palms or fists could touch the other man's chest, Erik dodged from under Peter's arm.

For a guy who's mutation didn't have anything to do with speed, Erik moved quite fast. So fast that Peter, who had not been fully prepared and still under the influence of caffeine, didn't notice Erik's movement until he felt him standing behind his back, one arm around Peter's neck.

"And now, if I wanted to be an evil Sandman", Erik said from so close to his ear it made Peter shiver. "I'd keep you there for a while. See how I hold my left bicep with my right hand? You'll get a stronger hold that way."

"Got it."

Erik stayed waiting for him to say something more.

Nope. Peter stayed quiet. Silent as a... silent person.

Concentrating like a pro.

That, and the fact that it was a little hard to talk with all that pressure on your windpipe.

"And hold the back of the head with the left hand." Erik pressed Peter's head while talking. "It'll make it more effective."

"Okay", Peter squealed.

"Great." Erik let him go. "Now you try, and then we'll move on to throwing each other to the ground."

"Great, yes, my turn", Peter said, probably way too excited than necessary.

Other kids dreamed of their dads taking them to Disneyland or a zoo. There they would eat ice cream and do all 'fun' stuff fathers and sons were supposed to do. Take pictures with Captain Hook. Feed a tiger. Eat more ice cream. Talk about life and shit.

But Peter was sure he would be perfectly happy spending the whole day with his Dad choking him and teaching him how to easily make people fall to the ground. You know, the basic people skills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My dad uses a wheelchair (shut up Freud, that has nothing to do with my Charles Xavier obsession. Though, the amount of Dad™ Charles was with the kids in xma was amazing and i loved it okAY SO ANYWAY) and I work as an assistant for a lady who uses one. So having grown up and now working in the middle of all kinds of devices and such, I think a lot about how many raps and elevators they have in the mansion, how flipping many chairs Charles has and how does he change his clothes (mostly pants, how does he change his pants? i imagine him just rolling on his bed... i'd try myself, but it's hard to not to move your legs at all) i mean i'd like to think Hank is his personal assistant, but i feel Charles would want to be as independent as possible...
> 
> Don't mind me, this wasn't even that important, just details. I like details.
> 
> [Here's a picture of the hold](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ve3uqA_9eio/maxresdefault.jpg), if it helps.
> 
> The next chapter will continue from here~ This one could have been longer (is there such thing as a too long chapter tho) but it would have taken longer to edit and I didn't want to take too much time to update. 
> 
> Thank you for reading, i hope you still like it ♡ 


	5. Blushing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even if i don't exactly know how many chapters this fic will have, i know it will be many more. I hope i can keep it up and good enough so you'll stay with me~

"That's not it", Erik said, again, and moved Peter's hand. "The spot under my jawline, just before the bon - _there_."

"I'm sorry!" Peter said at Erik's gasp of pain, again, and let go of his throat immediately. 

Erik let him back off. "It's okay." 

"No." Peter shook his head. "I don't want to hurt you, man."

"You wanted to train with me, Peter", Erik reminded him. "And I've done this to you at least four times now. Someone will think you have a hickey when they see the mark my thumb pressed in there."

"But-"

Not listening to Peter's but, Erik attacked, pushed Peter so he had to react.

And Peter did, nicely as they had practiced, he grabbed Erik's other arm and tried to pull it down while other hand around Erik's throat.

"Good", Erik admitted. "But I won't fall if it doesn't hurt."

Peter kicked the back of Erik's leg, making him lose his balance. Peter fell down on top of him, like he was supposed to.

He jumped right off of him, but smiled. "Yeah, you do."

Erik answered his smile and got up. "Fine. You'll be a lot stronger with your super speed, anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter."

"So I got it?" Peter swung back and forth on his feet. "You think I can do it well enough now?"

"I already said I think you got it half an hour ago." Erik fetched his flannel. Though, it was too hot to put it on yet. 

He was suddenly very aware of Charles sitting by the door they had left open to get more air into the room. He had been there for good twenty minutes, just watching. Erik didn't mind, not really, but it had made it a bit harder for him to concentrate. 

It was still too hot, but Erik put the shirt on, anyway. "Apart from the pain point." 

"So we're done?" Peter asked. "You're not late from anything, aren't you? With the professor waiting for you there? I'd hate so be the reason you're late."

"Relax", Erik told him, for the fifth time today. "I'm not late." _And what makes you think he's waiting for me?_

Peter nodded. "Okay Dad - I mean _dude!_ " Peter gave a nervous laugh. "Dude, not... not dad, why would I call you that, I'm sorry, that made no sense at all. Man, I must be tired, maybe I should take a nap or something, or maybe I'll just shut up, yeah that'd be good, yes."

Erik raised an eyebrow at the blushing boy. "Okay."

It wasn't unheard of that students called their teachers "Mom" or "Dad". Hell, Erik had heard some of the kids calling Charles _Daddy_  just because they thought it was funny (or for some other reasons Erik really didn't want to know).

Slips happened, and this was probably just one of those. Though, it was a bit funny that it happened to a somewhat grown man. No matter if the man was acting like a nervous teenager (which, Erik had to admit, was rather endearing to a point).

"I'll see you at the next x-men training", Erik said to Peter who looked like he was going to run into the sun just so he'd had somewhere to escape. Poor kid. 

"Actually, I'll see you tomorrow at French", Peter noted.

Erin nodded. It was a small miracle he had forgotten that. He should have gotten used to seeing Peter's face in every class room.

Because Peter attended to all of his classes. _All of them,_  even the ones he had already taken and gotten good grades from. And besides, the kid was almost 30, he didn't actually need to be there. But he was. 

And here he was, looking at Erik like he was some kind of superior person in the life of Peter Maximoff, something even more superior and important than a tutor or a teacher.

_"Maybe he likes you."_

No, that wasn't it. Charles had just been joking.

Right?

"Right", Erik said and moved towards the door and Charles, who was still smiling at them. Didn't that man's cheeks ever hurt from all that mouth twisting? "I'll be off now. Good work today."

"Yeah, thanks man, means a lot", Peter said from behind him, recovering from his embarrassment. And just as Erik was about to ask Charles what he was doing there, Peter shouted after him. "Erik!"

Erik turned to see Peter walk to him "Yes?"

"I...umh..."

Erik patiently waited for the kid to find his words.

"You..." Peter's eyes were anxious, moving from Erik's eyes to his chin, down to his chest and then at Charles, as if looking for help. "You... You and the Professor play a lot of chess!"

It was an innocent observation, but it almost made Erik feel like blushing, because it made him think: _Do they all pay attention to how much time I spend with Charles?_

_Did any of them see me leaving his room this morning?_

Not that it mattered much, everyone knew they were friends. Old friends. Dear friends. It wasn't odd that they stayed in the same room for a night. Right?

Damn it.

Feeling Charles staring at him, now a lot closer than a minute ago, Erik had no idea how he managed to sound calm while answering Peter with a simple: "Yes?"

Peter didn't seem to notice anything. 

"You think you could maybe teach me?" he asked, much less anxious, but seemingly disappointed in something. "Someday, when it's okay to you? I mean, I'm in no hurry, I just think it would be cool to know how to play."

Erik made himself look away from Charles, and shrugged. "Sure."

"Great, cool", Peter said, not stopping with the nodding. "See you later then."

And he was gone.

\---

Charles watched Peter disappear before saying to Erik: "He really does like you."

"Shut up, Charles."

"I'm being serious", Charles chuckled. "From what I saw there, he seems to be very fond of you."

Erik looked back at him. "Can you blame him?"

_No, I really can't._

He turned his face before Erik could see him blushing. 

It was so nice seeing Erik not feeling bad about himself. Joking, and smiling. 

God, Charles had missed this, like he would miss that flannel, if Erik one day decided not to wear it ever again. 

Charles himself was wearing his lilac shirt again. He knew it was Erik's favorite, but of course that wasn't the reason he was wearing it. In fact, it had very little to do with that.

Or that he had know Erik would see him today, first thing in the morning.

He cleared his throat. "How was your training?"

"You didn't get good enough glimpse from here?"

Oh, he had alright. No matter how much Charles liked seeing Erik in flannel, he very much liked seeing him in his white (and rather tight) t-shirt, moving and training so you could see his arms in action.

And that, among many other things and thoughts, made Charles glad he and Jean (who Charles trusted didn't pay much attention to even his loudest thoughts) were the only telepaths in the mansion.

"Honestly, Charles", Erik continued, his hands in his pockets. "You could have come to interrupt us if you had something to say."

"I know", Charles said. "It's okay, I enjoyed watching you. Both. Watching you both. As you trained. Together. The two of you."

Erik laughed so gently it made Charles' busy mind scream from affection.

"Why is everyone like that around me today?" Erik asked. "Did I forget to shave or something?"

"Like what?" Charles frowned, wishing the bloody blushing had stopped. "And no, your face is all hairless and clean." Though, the stubble had suited Erik's face rather well.

No, the blushing definitely did not stop.

Erik closed the door behind him, mercifully acting like he didn't notice the color on Charles' face. "Nothing. Everyone's just... talkative."

"By everyone you mean me and Peter?" Charles didn't let Erik hear his nerves in his laugh. Where had the nervousness came from, anyway? 

Probably from the same place where the warmth in his chest and the twist in his gut. And the smile that just wouldn't go away.

The place that was found every time Erik looked at him.

Charles had to clear his throat again. "I actually did have a reason to come see you." _Other than just to see you. As if I did't see you every day anyway. Since we happen to live in the same house._

Erik's hands were back in his pockets, his face suddenly serious. He must have been thinking it was something bad, some parent complaining or students being afraid of him. "And what was it, Charles?" 

It was nothing of that sort.

"Scott wanted to build a motorbike in the garage."

Erik relaxed, just to look slightly confused. "And you gave him permission to do so?"

"No, but he did it anyway."

There was a more confused, but amused look on Erik's shaved face. "Can Scott build a motorbike?"

"Well." Charles moved on his chair. "Considering that the garage is now full of smoke and unrecognizable pieces of metal, I'd say no, he can't."

Only amusement was left as Erik asked: "You want me to be your cleaning lady?"

"If you wore a maid's dress, I would be up for it. I'm sure the students would find that hilarious as well." Charles felt his cheeks aching from his grin. "But I was rather hoping you would help Scott with the bike."

"You _want_  him to have a working motorbike?"

"I think he has deserved it. And it's not like I'll be able to stop him." Charles sighed. "Everyone needs a hobby. And who knows, maybe he'll become a teacher. He could teach the students how to build and drive motorbikes."

" _Xavier's motorists_ ", Erik mumbled to the walls. "As if society didn't hate us enough already."

"They don't hate us, Erik."

Erik's eyes were soft meeting Charles'. "I'm not going to have this argument with you again, old friend."

"Good", Charles said, smiling. "Neither am I. So, will you help?"

"Lead the way, professor." Erik gestured with his hand. "Let's get the motorbike club started. Your name will look great on the leather jackets."

Driving his chair down the hall, Charles was sure Erik would soon get tired of hearing his ridiculous giggle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear to god, if i'll write about Erik's flannel, blushing, or the words "old friend" one more time, i will personally punch myself in the face. 
> 
> Thank you for reading ^^ And thank you all who have been commenting! Hearing your thoughts really makes me happy and keeps me motivated ♡


	6. Was All

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel the power of your lovely comments as they inspire me to write a new chapter instead of concentrating while at work.
> 
> Honestly tho, i almost called my employer's cat Charles. I need to chill

It was the time of the day when everyone was either doing their homework, napping, or sneaking out to get early dinner at the nearest McDonald's. Thanks to that, Peter and Ororo had the kitchen all for themselves.

"So." Ororo sat back on her chair. "You didn't tell him."

"No, but _I will_." Peter pointed his fork at her. After too many hours without food, Peter was hungry like a... person who hadn't eaten anything. He was not to be messed with. He would have sold his walkman for pizza. Or for one more plate of anything he could find, even though he still had half of his second plate of pasta uneaten. "Someday."

Ororo laughed and reached out to steal the fork from Peter's hand.

"You're pathetic", she said jokingly from across the table.

"I know", Peter said. "I'm a total looser. At least I own it."

"At least."

"I'm not afraid to eat with my hands", he warned, though, he could easily just take the fork back from her, with the super speed and all. "I promise to mess up your hair with my soon to be gross food-hands if you won't give that back."

She didn't care, she was more interested in going through his awesome but relatively unpleasant time with Erik. "You trained with him for hours-"

"Two hours and forty two minutes."

"And you didn't have one chance to tell him?"

Of course he had had. The whole thing had been a big fucking chance! That was the whole reason he had asked Erik to train him. That, and he really just wanted to spend time with his Secret Dad.

Which reminded him. 

"I did accidentally call him Dad."

Ororo sounded like she almost choked on her own spit. " _What?_ " 

With that distraction, Peter didn't need his powers to get the damn fork from her hand. "Yeah."

Ororo's eyes were beyond disappointed. "And you _still_ didn't tell!"

"I tried, okay." Peter drowned his frustration in a mouthful of spaghetti. "I tried to tell him, but I freaked out. Surprisingly."

"Surprisingly", Ororo mumbled. "So what happened? And don't speak with your mouth full", she added with no right to do so, since she always spoke while eating, just as much as Peter did.

"I ended up asking if he'd teach me how to play chess", Peter answered without swallowing.

"Isn't chess kinda boring?"

"Probably, but that was the only thing that came to my mind", Peter said. "The professor was there and, you know, he and Erik play a lot of chess."

"Nicely thought", Ororo said. "I still think you should tell Erik."

"I think so too." Peter stared at his plate. If he ate slower, would the food last longer? 

"I know he seems intimidating", Ororo said carefully. "I saw it with my own eyes."

"I've seen it too, remember?"

Peter had. He had seen Erik, busy destroying the world from the middle of a magnetic force field even Peter hadn't been able to get through.

The man was powerful, awesome but scary. Mostly awesome. When not angry. If Erik was angry, he was not only scary, but seriously deadly. Seriously.

Peter knew by now that Erik hadn't killed the president. But in reality, Erik had probably ended more lives than one president was even worth. Not to mention the over all mess he must have caused everywhere around the word during the Apocalypse incident.

Despite it all, Peter said: "It's not that. I will tell him, but not yet."

"Alright." Ororo let the conversation go and went to get two cans of soda from the huge fridge, one for her and another for Peter. "What did the professor say when you missed his class?"

Ororo tossed him his soda. That girl lived dangerously, and she dragged him with her. The can could very well explode on Peter's face now that it had been shaken. 

"He was too busy staring at Erik, I guess he didn't remember I had been missing. If he even noticed I was there." 

"Ohh", Ororo let out, sitting down on the table and opening the drink. "It's that bad, huh?"

Peter laughed, relieved she had her interest in a different subject than _Peter's Unknown Family -drama._  "Yeah."

"And Erik is totally oblivious?"

"Seems to be." Peter had finally finished his meal, scraped every piece of food there had been. He opened the soda, and it did not explode on his face. "I don't know if professor himself knows what's going on."

"Or then he's just polite", Ororo suggested. "Erik did lose his family only months ago. I saw what it did to him back then, and since Charles is a telepath, he must have seen it too. So maybe he'll wait."

"Wait for what?" Peter quickly took his plate and fork, and washed them clean before sitting on top of the table with his soda, next to Ororo, to whom only less than a second had passed. "I mean, I get that he's in mourning and all, and that it takes time."

She gave a slow nod. "How was he today?"

"He looked fine." Peter smiled at the memory of Erik, laughing and smiling with him, even if for a while. "Happy, even."

"Then why didn't he tell him?"

" _Oh my god_ , Ororo, we're not talking about that anymore." Peter threw away the empty can, gracefully missing the bin across the room. "We're talking about Erik and the professor."

"Okay, okay." Ororo's can flew beautifully to join the other trash. Peter was sure she had controlled the wind, or something. No one had that good aim without some mutant powers. "Maybe he's waiting for... I don't know."

"For Erik to confesses his love first?"

Ororo swung her legs, smiling like someone who knew a great secret. (Which she did, but not this one.) "You think he likes him too?"

"They have had some serious stare-offs, if you ask me. Or then they're just _really_  good friends." Peter shrugged. "I've never seen anyone punch someone so lovingly in the face than the professor did to Erik when I first met them."

"I wish I'd been there to see that." Ororo giggled. "But I agree. There was some intense staring and... tension in Cairo when we stole the professor. He was all 'don't do this Erik' and Erik was all 'shut up Charles', even though he had insisted we'd put Charles' jacket under his head as a pillow so he'd be comfortable."

"That, or then he just wanted get a better look at Charles in that nice v-neck", Peter added.

He had heard some students talking about the shirt, and he had to agree with them: while it was indeed a nice piece of clothing, there was no way a completely heterosexual man would wear it.

And there was no way that a completely heterosexual man would look at it with the kind of approval Erik had today.

"Yeah." Ororo kept laughing. "And then En Sabah Dude was all 'Charles please, pay attention to my evil plan' but Charles was too busy telling Erik he was a good man, or something."

"I can imagine that."

"That was exactly what happened", Ororo stated. "Professor was so pissed when he saw how that giant smurf had gotten into Erik's head. How Erik had joined us, so we could destroy the world..."

Her voice faded into thoughts Peter knew still hunted her. She had been the first one to join En Sabah Dude (they had been calling him that to get some comic relief in the otherwise so dramatic memories) and even though she had turned against him in the end, she had fought the others, almost killed them, like they had almost killed her.

They weren't angry with her, didn't think she was evil or anything. Ororo knew it, and to them it seemed like she was all fine. And she was, on most days.

But Peter knew she felt like she didn't quite fit in with the others. Scott and Jean were closer every day, and Kurt was always hanging out with them like he was their son or puppy. They were friendly, but they had their own things. Their own jokes, their own stuff.

Peter felt for Ororo, he didn't fit with them, either. Or with the other students, for that matter. And he didn't really feel like hanging out with Raven and Hank(since they too had their own things), so he was happy he had Ororo. They were happily alone together.

And Peter really wasn't so great with all that 'making friends' stuff in the first place. Or more like he didn't bother, others were usually so slow and boring. Not Ororo, though. She was cool.

"Come on", Ororo killed the silence and started to the door. She didn't like dwelling in thoughts any more than Peter did. "I heard Scott blew up a motorbike downstairs."

Peter jumped after her. "What?"

"I don't know." She went down the hall, she didn't slow down or wait for him to catch up. She didn't need to. "Let's go check it out."

In a millisecond, Peter was a few steps ahead of her, walking backwards so he could see her face when asking: "Is Erik there?"

"I don't know." She rolled her eyes at him. "But I freaking hope so."

Peter wasn't sure if he did. If he wanted to see Erik right now. He wasn't going to say anything about the situation Unknown Son if there would be many people watching.  

He probably wouldn't say anything to Erik for at least a day, anyway. Peter should let the awkwardness fade a little before he'd willingly set himself into the flames of embarrassment once more.

But then again, Scott destroying the garage? He wasn't going to miss this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And if anyone's interested, the Smurfs were created around 50's and 60's, and got known worldwide in 1981, so it's kinda possible for Ororo to compare Apocalypse to them in the early 80's... I did my very super important wikipedia check on this.
> 
> I got some of the next chapter written and i try to get it done at some point this week~
> 
> Thank you for reading, again ♡


	7. He Did

There hadn't been too much damage when Erik and Charles arrived. Just a fuck ton of smelly smoke and one slightly confused but still very cocky Scott.

And the unrecognizable pieces of metal that Erik had taken care of in no time.

Now, after an long hour or so and way too many annoying words exchanged between him and Scott, they finally had something in front of them that looked even remotely like a motorbike.

They didn't actually need to build the bike from scratch, just add some important pieces, like breaks and reversing lights. Not too difficult. Though, Erik knew little of motorbikes, but he was not afraid to check the manual they got. And it had gotten them far. So far.

Erik wiped his forehead, his fingers leaving dark oil marks across his face. "That's my opinion."

"And my opinion is that your opinion sucks."

Erik have Scott a look that was supposed to silence the boy's attitude. It still didn't work. Maybe he could make it more effective, if he actually saw the boy's eyes.

"It's my bike!" Scott announced.

"It's actually Charles' bike", Erik said. "We're using his tools and spare parts."

Charles, who was sitting right next to them, grinned at Scott as if to say  _"Yeah, what he said"._

Erik was grateful for the support, but mentally reminded Charles he didn't need to be there working with them.

 _'Nonsense'_ , answered Charles' voice. He was handing Erik tools and picking up small stuff from the floor with weird [pliers](http://www.apuvalineavux.fi/1125/tarttumapihti-handigrip.jpg) Hank had designed for him (so Charles didn't need to be careful not to fall face first from his chair when reaching for something). _'I want to help. This is fun.'_

Erik was sure Charles had better things to do than to sit in a smelly garage watching to morons trying to get a motorbike working. Though, to be honest, he was glad Charles was there. To help and to delight their day with his presence. 

_'Fine.'_

"I don't see why you need an extra exhaust pipe", Erik told Scott, putting down his screwdriver. Charles picked it up not even a second after it hit the ground. "It'll just be on the way."

"It will look cool", Scott said, like it was obvious. "No one will know it doesn't do anything. Right, Kurt?"

" _Ja_ ", Kurt said from few feet away. He was looking and studying at all the tools and spare parts, simply exited to be there. "Very cool."

Erik liked Kurt, and Kurt wasn't exactly on their way, but the less people there was, the easier it was for Scott to concentrate in not blowing shit up again. 

It had just been a little explosion, something to do with the gas and the switch. Not much had been destroyed, no one had gotten hurt.

But little or not, Erik didn't want to clean his mess up again.

"Kurt, where's your mo- Raven?" He played it cool, no one noticed his almost slip. Though, Charles gave him a look, but that was fine. Charles knew what Erik knew (or suspected), and wasn't going to make a number of it.

"I don't know", Kurt answered. "Why? Do you need me to get her here?"

If he knew anything, he would have seen where Erik had been going with _'your'_ and _'mo-'_  and _'Raven'_  in same sentence.

"No. I- " Erik lifted his arm to scratch his head, but before he could do that, Charles' hand stopped him.

_'Don't get oil in your hair, Erik.'_

_'I already have it all over me, Charles.'_   Erik stared at him with a silent laugh. _'I have to take a shower, anyway.'_

Charles didn't stare back. "No need to get Raven, Kurt", he said to the blue boy and pulled his hand from Erik's. "I'm sure Erik was just wondering."

"Yes", Erik said, eyes still on Charles.

He had planned to ask Kurt to go looking for Raven, just so he would have something else to do. Now Erik though sending the boy to Raven might not be the best idea. Raven would realize Erik was onto her, and Erik could only imagine how she'd react to that.

Kurt nodded. "Okay."

Erik sighed. Maybe they could finish their work even with all the extra people in the room. The extra people being Charles, piling up small things from the floor on his lap, Kurt, following their work with such fascination, and Jean, who was quietly watching them from a table to where she had brought some snacks.

And then, as if that wouldn't have been enough extra people, Ororo and Peter marched in. They sat down on top of Jean's table, on the one spot not covered in plates and bowls.

"We heard there had been a motorbike explosion", Erik heard Peter say to Jean.

"It wasn't a literal 'motorbike explosion'", Jean explained.

Peter snorted. "Boring."

Ororo nodded, Erik smiled to himself.

"May I?" Peter asked, pointing at the snacks.

"Sure." Jean gave him a bowl of potato chips. "They don't seem to be hungry, so I guess they won't mind if you eat their food."

"I wouldn't call that food", Ororo laughed as Peter hugged the bowl.

Erik let them continue their chatting and tried to get back to work.

 _'Seriously, Erik'_ , Charles whispered into his head as Erik lifted his hand again to fix his hair. _'_ _That will be awfully hard to wash off.'_

' _Well then you shouldn't have asked me to come here'_ , Erik thought back, lowering his arm. _'This is kind of hard to avoid.'_

He considered adding something like 'Maybe I should just get into the shower now, so you can come wash me clean right away, if this bothers you that much' or 'I don't need to worry about getting dirty, you seem to be willing to take care of me, anyway'.

Erik bit down a smile as he saw Charles' face turn slightly red.

Damn telepath deserved it.

When he got his eyes off Charles, Erik saw Ororo whispering something to Peter, who almost spat out his potato chips laughing, careful not to look at Erik and Charles' direction.

Ororo did, but even she tried to hid her smile a little when meeting Erik's gaze.

Erik didn't waste a thought on what they were up to. Those two were close, they had their own inside jokes that Erik, or anyone else, needn't to be a part of.

But it was hard to not to feel involved when they watched him like that, giggling like he was doing something strange and giggle-worthy just by being alive.

And why was Ororo pushing Peter's arm while nodding at Erik's way?

Peter was done laughing. Though still smiling, he became seemingly uncomfortable. He was looking right at Erik, turning his head every time Erik tried to look back.

Try to figure out other people. For Erik was not going to. He reached to get his screwdriver from Charles so he could finally continue helping Scott.

Charles hardly noticed him taking the tool from his lap. He was done being red, now curiously keeping an eye on Peter, who pushed Ororo back, whispering something to her, looking suddenly more alarmed than amused.

For a moment, Charles' wide eyes turned from Peter to Erik, then back to Peter again.

"I need to go... to do something", Charles said with a serious face hidden under a smile so his seriousness was only visible to the ones like Erik and Raven who had known him for years. Whether he wanted Erik to notice or not.

"Is everything okay?" Erik asked, frowning. What was it with Peter that got Charles like that?

Charles handed Kurt the things he had been carrying on his lap. "Of course."

Erik wasn't convinced.

He... Did Charles really think the kid was so into Erik? Was that what this was? It was the only thing Erik could think of, at least.

Charles couldn't possibly. And why would it make him want to leave the room so soon?

What if... No, that was stupid. Charles couldn't _possibly_  think that... that Erik might be into Peter, too?

No, no that didn't make sense, there was absolutely no reason for Charles to think so. Or for him to get upset about it. And besides, he should be able to see inside Erik's head. So he should see there was no Peter in there.

Erik listened to his mind. No answer from Charles.

Oh, now he decided to shut up?

"Don't blow anything up again, please", Charles said out loud (to whom, Erik wasn't sure). He gave Peter one last look before driving his chair out of the room.

"Hey, dude", Scott waved his hand before Erik's eyes to make him stop staring after Charles. "Let's get this done."

"Right." Erik shook his head. "Let's get this done."

Somewhere, Ororo was giggling again. And Peter, with the most awkward yet suffering grin Erik had witnessed on his face, kept 'secretly' staring at him.

 _Well_ , Erik though, _shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is shit about to get down? Maybe at some point :"D 
> 
> So i got a motorbike (with an extra exhaust pipe that does nothing but looks cool like???) but i don't know much about them... or I do know something but i had to translate that knowledge from my native (Finnish) into English and yeah, lot of work for a lazy creature like me, so not too much motorbike science there. And i have no idea if stuff can actually blow up like that, so i'm not sure of the accuracy there... but at least it's a funny thought and a plot device.
> 
> Anyway, my bike is Yamaha Virago and according to wikipedia the first models were made in the early 80's. So that's kinda how i imagine Scott's bike to look like. Here's a [picture of the bike i have](http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/Gallery%20%20A/Yamaha%20XV125S%2097.jpg), though this model wasn't made until the late 90's i think... And you can imagine whatever bike you want, anyway~
> 
> And there was a pic of the kind of [pliers](http://www.apuvalineavux.fi/1125/tarttumapihti-handigrip.jpg) i was talking about. Like, you press the thing and it grabs stuff. As a kid i thought cleaning up would be funnier with one of those (spoiler: it wasn't).
> 
> Thank you for reading! And again, seriously, it gives me so much joy and happiness to hear your thoughts and that you like what I do! aaand it keeps me motivated. so yeah, thanks for that again ^^


	8. Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my "soon enough" is somewhere in between 1-5 days. I'd really want to update even more often, because i love working on this fic and sharing it with you, but i have my job and school (yay summer courses) keeping me busy... and then, you know, i like to sleep
> 
> anyway
> 
> new chapter!

_'I'll be in my study.'_

It hadn't been an invitation, it had been an order. Not that the professor had seemed too angry, but serious at least. And a bit angry.

 _Well,_ Peter thought after the professor had left the room. _Shit._

Peter wasn't sure if it was about him and Ororo totally noticing (and giggling about) the professor and Erik having a private mind to mind chat in the middle of a room full of people (during which the professor had actually blushed), or if it was about what Peter's mind must have been screaming when Ororo had whispered to him 'Soon you'll have two dads' and then pushed him (literally pushed him) to go talk to them.

Peter had told her to kindly shut the fuck up, while his thoughts had been yelling something like _It's my Dad, my Dad is there, with his soon to be boyfriend, what if I'll have two dads, my Dad, there's my Father, fuck, he's looking our way, be quiet Ororo, it's my Dad, fuck._

Guess you couldn't keep a secret from a telepath for too long. Peter should have known that. 

And now he had to suffer the consequences of his loud mind. It was totally all Ororo's fault.

He didn't leave right after the professor, that would have been suspicious. But he couldn't stay still and quiet for long.

"I need to go", he said to Ororo, ready to jump after the professor to get this over with.

She grabbed his sleeve. "Wait, where?"

Peter took the chance to stay here with her for a bit longer. "To see the professor."

Her eyes widened, her hand let go. "Oh no, did he hear you?"

"If I heard it, I bet he did too", said Jean, of whom Peter had already forgotten about. "But I don't think he's mad at you, Peter, so stop panicking."

"I'm not panicking", Peter assured, totally panicking his ass off, quiet enough so Erik wouldn't hear or notice. "And don't you dare tell anyone, or I will end you."

"No you won't", Jean said, eating a potato chip with a smug smile on her face. 

Peter tried to kill her with his eyes. "I most certainly will." 

"You sound like the professor," Jean chuckled, clearly not intimidated by Peter's pathetic Death Stare. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It's your business. I'm impressed you managed to keep it a secret for this long."

"Keep what a secret?"

"That he actually has a crush on Raven", Jean told Kurt as he wildly appeared to their table, looking like he was _ready_  for some gossiping. Or, as 'ready for some gossip' as a Kurt could be. "He's totally into her."

" _What_ \- yeah", Peter said, scratching his head, very happy Raven was nowhere to be seen.

Guess he could trust Jean to tell false gossips for him, and everyone to believe her. He believed his real secret was safe with her, though his dignity might be in a great danger.

"Yeah, you know, I'm all about that blue", he went on. "Though she rocks that blonde as well. Yeah, totally crushing on her, I mean aren't we all? And the way she beats us up at the Danger Room? Super hot."

Ororo couldn't keep her snort quiet.

Kurt listened with intense interest, and nodded. "She is a very nice person, yes."

"Yeah. I'm all crazy in love",Peter said, begging in his mind for Jean to take over the conversation, before Kurt would remember that Raven was currently with Hank. And that Peter wouldn't actually go after her, a woman who was not single. Like, ever. Peter was sure he had expressed that at some point. He did have some honor left in him.  "And these girls here are _helping me."_

Jean giggled. 

"Yes, okay. Now remember, Kurt", she said with her low _no one else shall hear what we're secretly talking about here, for this is serious business_  -voice. "It's a secret. You mustn't tell a soul."

Kurt placed his blue hand on his heart. "You have my word!"

"Thanks, man", Peter said. He patted Kurt's back before getting down from the table. "Anyway. I'll leave."

Ororo punched his arm gently as he went. "Good luck."

Just before jumping into his super speed, Peter heard Kurt asking: "Where is he going?"

"To buy Raven some flowers", Ororo answered, way too excited about their cover story.

Peter didn't stay to hear the rest of it. 

He ran past the motorbike, Scott and Erik, who, hopefully, hadn't heard their conversation. Peter didn't need any more people into this mess. He was sure Scott would't leave him alone if he heard Peter 'had a crush' on Raven, let alone if he knew the truth about Erik.

The air was cooler outside the garage. Peter stayed in his speed for a while longer, walking around the mansion and preparing himself for meeting the professor and his questions.

\---

Charles of course knew Peter was behind his door before he heard the knock.

"Came in, Peter."

The door opened so unnaturally slowly Charles was impressed. Peter stepped in, clearly wishing he'd be anywhere else. "You wanted to see me, professor."

Charles gazed at him from behind his desk. "Yes."

Peter moved uneasily, not quite sure where to put his hands or where to lay his eyes. If Charles hadn't known better, he'd assume Peter was very interested in his bookshelves.

Poor boy. Charles couldn't imagine how awkward Peter must be and feel around Erik. 

Charles had noticed Peter's interest in Erik. The subtle admiration and respect, and the hope for even a change to be in the same room with him. It was, and it had been, obvious that Erik was somehow special to Peter.

Sure, Charles had teased Erik into thinking it might be a crush, but he himself hadn't thought so for a second. Admiration, respect, but not attraction.

Still, he hadn't really seen _this_ coming.

"How long have you known?"

Peter kept his face straight. _Long enough._

Charles tried not to hear his accidental thoughts, but they were as loud as they had been in the garage.  Peter must have known that. Yet, he tried to play ignorant:

"How long have I known what", he asked, shifting his weight from a leg to another. "Professor?"

_'You know very well what I am talking about, Peter.'_

"Hey, you know about evolution and stuff", Peter tried changing the subject, not meeting Charles' eyes, ignoring the thoughts Charles tried send into his mind. "Can you tell me one thing. I've been wondering, why do men have nipples? It makes no sense, they do nothing. Like, why did evolution think they were a good idea?"

Charles sighed and decided to play Peter's game. Maybe it would ease him. "All embryos start out as female, therefore they develop some tissue and body parts before the genes and the Y chromosome begin to make the baby male. Male nipples and breast tissue have little function, except maybe protect heart and lungs from injuries."

Peter listened, Charles hoped he didn't really think this would distract him.

"Now that we got that miracle of life out of our way", Charles said, driving away from his desk. "Let's concentrate on why you're here."

Peter almost jumped up and down on his feet, so restless he was. "Is this about the class I missed today?"

"You know exactly what this is about." Charles didn't try to sound intimidating, or annoyed, it would have gotten Peter even more out of his mind. He stopped few feet away from him. "For god's sake, Peter, calm down."

Peter let out a slow breath and nodded, eyes on his feet. He wasn't as horrified as he had been when he had first walked in, but there was still a great amount of panic left in him. Though, some of it had nothing to do with Charles or the present moment.

"I just want to talk."

Peter finally looked at Charles when hearing the gentleness in his words. "You're not mad at me?"

"Of course not." Charles smiled. This young man, he was Erik's son. How could Charles possibly be mad at him for that? Peter was hardly the one to blame. "Why would you think that?"

Peter put his hands in his pockets, much like Erik did unconsciously when thinking. Though, Peter might have done it simply to keep his hands steady. "You just seemed so... I don't know, kinda angry when you left the garage."

"I was surprised", Charles explained. "Mostly because you managed to keep your thoughts so silent about it, until now."

"Oh no I didn't. You just weren't there to listen." Peter joked, he relaxed a bit and almost smiled. Almost. "So what did you want to talk about then? You want to make sure I won't hurt Erik? That I won't declare myself as his long lost son when he just lost his daughter?"

"I wanted to know what the hell was going on", Charles told him. "I thought it was better to talk face to face than mind to mind."

"Look", Peter said, sitting down on the most comfortable armchair in the room. "I know this is a hell of a secret. And that I probably shouldn't have kept this for so long."

"You still are keeping it."

"Not my point, bro. Professor bro." Peter leaned elbows on his knees, then straightened back up, for his left foot was shaking too bad for anything to lean on it. "My point is that... I don't know, I want to tell him, but I don't want to upset him, and I really don't know when would be a good time."

"And you wish to get to know him first." Charles moved slightly closer to the armchair. "That's why you're here, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Or, well, I do like it here more than in my Mom's basement"' he said with a short laugh. "So maybe I would stay here even if it wasn't for him."

"Attending all the classes? Tell me, Peter." Charles waited until he got Peter's eyes on his. "Have you ever considered teaching?"

Peter laughed again, without a smile. "Nah. I don't see myself as a teacher, and I don't know what I would teach."

"I'm sure we'll come up with something", Charles promised. "It must be boring for you to take classes when technically you already have finished your school. Even if it means you get to spend time with Erik. Now, to get back to your situation with him -"

"I know he's a good guy", Peter interrupted him. His leg had stopped shaking, his face wasn't too serious anymore. "So you can spare me from all that."

Charles smiled. "I will spare you, then."

It made Charles happy to see Peter answer his smile.

"I'm fine", Peter said. "I'm not alone, Ororo knows, and now Jean knows, too. And Raven. And you. I guess I should say that I would very much appreciate if you didn't tell anyone. Should have told that to Raven."

"I won't tell", Charles said. "This is your secret to keep, after all."

"Thanks."

"But I do hope you will talk about this with Erik," Charles added. "And in my opinion, you can tell him today, if you wish to. He won't break from it. He might even be glad."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just..." Peter sighed. "I don't want to disappoint him."

"Peter." Charles could barely reach Peter's shoulder with his hand. "I am sure you won't disappoint him. Despite of what I might have said or thought about you back when we first met, you truly are a good kid. A good man. And you have saved our lives, many times. Anyone would be happy to have you."

Peter didn't say anything, he didn't really need to. Charles knew he was grateful.

 _'And',_ Charles said to Peter's mind as he heard Erik's thoughts near by. _'Your father is waiting outside the door. I know the door looks thick, but honestly, you can hear anything through it. So if you want to keep your secret for a while longer, think well about what you'll say out loud.'_

"Shit."

Charles laughed. ' _Don't worry, I think he's here for me.'_

"Sooo...." Peter turned his face from staring shocked at the door to smirk at Charles. "What's with you and Mr. Metalbender, huh? Does he know you're totally checking him out every two seconds."

"I think we're done here." It was Charles' turn to wish the door was just thick enough. "I'm glad we had this talk, Peter."

"Okay then." Peter laughed, this time with a real smile. "And thanks, me too."

Charles only saw the door opened, Erik standing behind it looking slightly surprised, for Peter had run away with his speed, leaving the two of them alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have actually googled "why do men have nipples". Though i have no idea if Charles would know that in the 80's, but now i say he does.
> 
> the next chapter will take a while (meaning it'll be up sometime next week) bc i'm going away for the weekend and im not sure if i'll be able to write 
> 
> thank you for reading! and for being awesome in general ^^


	9. To Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it'll take a...few more chapters more for peter to tell erik. I want to have all the fun with this story
> 
> but we're definitely past the half way here
> 
> i hope you won't lose interest~

"I'm guessing Peter was here", Erik said as he walked in Cherles' study.

"Yes, yes he was, and we had a lovely conversation, with Peter, in here, just a second ago. You, you didn't happen to hear any of it, did you?" Charles smiled a smile so nervous and forced Erik almost cried out loud. Why was everyone so awkward around him?

"I didn't." Too bad he hadn't. He'd very much like to know what had gotten Charles so damn red again. 

Charles nodded. "Did you finish with Scott already?" 

"I told him we'd get it done later."

"You did work on that motorbike for quite a while", Charles said and pointed at the armchair closest to himself. Erik noticed Charles used it as an excuse to look somewhere else than Erik. "Please, sit. Tell me what's on your mind, you look like there's something bothering you."

Well, that was true. But Erik wasn't going to let Charles make this about him. Yet. 

Erik sat on the chair, leaned back and crossed his legs. Did he look like something bothered him now, huh? "Okay. What is the matter?"

Charles tried to wash the seriousness and mystery away with a dry laugh. "What do you mean? I asked you first."

"You didn't _ask_ ", Erik said, fighting off the weird smile Charles' silly words had caused.

"Fair enough."

"You left so suddenly", Erik explained. "You looked so worried. I wanted to see that you're okay."

"That's very kind of you, Erik. But don't worry, everything's great", Charles assured with yet another smile that was seemingly supposed to make Erik believe everything was 'great'.

It didn't work.

"Why was Peter here?"

Erik guessed Charles had expected the question. Still, the answer he got was hesitant.

"He had some... personal trouble."

Trying to be as subtle as possible, Erik asked: "Relationship trouble?"

Charles raised an eyebrow at Erik's curiosity. "I guess you could say that."

Erik leaned his elbows on his knees, going for 'casual'. Though, he could hardly trick Charles into thinking he was just asking for no reason, without any real interest in the matter.

He hadn't been lying earlier, he really hadn't heard (all of) the conversation through the door. But there had been those last few seconds, just before the door had opened.

Peter had talked so silently Erik hadn't heard a word. But before Peter, there had been Charles' voice telling Peter ' _Anyone would be happy to have you.'_

They must have been talking about someone. Someone who would be smart enough to see Peter's potential, and possibly even return Peter's feelings. According to Charles.

"Did Raven have something to do with it?"

The girls had definitely been teasing Peter about something in the garage, teasing in a way you teased a friend when they liked someone. Erik had heard a mention of _Raven,_  but for some reason he had hard time thinking she was the one.

Not that it was really any of his business.

"Raven?" Charles seemed genuinely confused with the question. "No, she didn't come up in our conversation."

So wasn't Raven. But could it still be someone else?

What if Peter's awkwardness towards Erik had been a coincidence? Scott had been next to Erik, maybe he was the one Peter had been staring at?

But that hadn't been the only awkward situation. The training earlier that day, Scott hadn't been around. The only thing that those two moments had in common was Peter and Erik being in the same room.

God, Erik really didn't want to get in the middle of any drama.

But if that drama included Erik, he wanted to at least know what was going on. If the kid had a cute lil crush on him, he'd better put an end to it before it got any worse.

Though, Erik wouldn't do anything yet. He wanted to be sure.

"Did you talk about me?"

So much for the subtle.

"No", Charles answered too quickly for it to be true. He tilted his head so very innocently. "Why?"

Erik knew Charles could damn well see where he was going with this. The new grin on Charles' face was just as subtle as Erik's question.

"Forget it." Erik shook his head. He wouldn't tell Charles what he wa thinking, not yet when he wasn't sure. It would just make things unnecessarily complicated. "It doesn't matter." 

Charles probably had a more or less good reason for keeping the truth, whatever it was, from Erik.

It only made Erik's brain work harder.

Charles had asked Peter to come talk to him privately. He had heard something in Peter's mind worth interfering. And of course Charles had wanted to help the kid, because he was Charles, and helping and caring about others was what a Charles did.

So... Maybe he had just been worried about Peter. That would have explained the serious look. And now he was just protecting Peter's secret.

_Anyone would be happy to have you._

Had Charles been encouraging Peter? Told him he should talk to Erik about his feelings?

One thing Erik hadn't considered: what if Charles didn't care if someone had feelings for Erik? Or if Erik had or would have feelings for that someone. Charles could be totally indifferent about it. 

Erik had no reason to think he was somehow special to Charles. He was merely a colleague, an old friend at most.

Of course he was dear to Charles, that was one of the universal truths. But in the end many, very many people were dear to Charles. He had a big heart that could contain countless lost souls. To him, Erik was one of them, nothing more.

The realization made Erik look away from his friend. Suddenly, the Situation Peter wasn't the first priority in his mind.

Charles chuckled at his seriousness, but the look he gave to Erik was filled with sincere concern. "You sure you're okay, Erik?"

"Yeah." Erik straightened and made his eyes turn back to Charles', whose smile had gone nowhere. Why were his lips always so extremely red? It wasn't at all fair for Erik's feelings.

Wait. What ' _feelings'?_

Oh for fuck's sake. This all was going to give Erik such a headache.

Luckily, Charles spoke before Erik could fall any deeper into his thoughts. "I remember you asked if we could finish our game."

Erik had hard time listening, for he saw again, after all these years, how Charles' eyes basically glowed, how it was almost offensive to call them blue, for they were so much more than just 'blue.' Especially now when he looked at Erik with the warm affection that almost matched the one of his Mother's gaze, though in a completely different way, reminding Erik of completely different kind of love.

"How about we do that now?" Charles asked. 

It took Erik a while to find words that weren't _'Do what now?'._ "Yes. That sounds good."

"Wonderful", Charles said. "But first, I got a feeling you could use some food, my friend. How about we get something from the kitchen on our way?"

Was Erik hungry? Honestly, he had no idea. No idea of what the hell was going on.

But if Charles wanted to take care of him, Erik would gladly let him do it. 

"Yes." He got up. "That sounds good."

\---

"Oh my god, Peter, come out!"

"You can't make me!" Peter yelled back through the door. He heard Ororo laugh.

"Actually, I can."

"Fair point", Peter mumbled into his pillow, then shouted: "Guess you gotta go all Big Bad Wolf."

"You know how the professor feels about students vandalizing his school", Ororo mumbled back, loud enough for him to hear. No doubt she would have loved to smash the door down. With a lightning. "Peter, let's get food. Or _something_. Eating will help. I saw chocolate in one of the cupboards."

"I'm embarrassed, not on my period."

He could feel Ororo rolling her eyes. "You're whining so much you might as well be."

"I've never seen you guys whine about periods", Peter said. "You're tough as hell. So I would suffer the pain with pride like you."

"Well, try to find some of that pride or at least some dignity. Open the damn door."

Peter said nothing. The pillow was too soft, the blanket around him warm.

It wasn't too late, but he had thought it a good idea to take a nap. Or just go to sleep for the night. Hell, he wanted at least five unconscious minutes so he could stop stressing about everything that had happened that day. 

He had gotten two, until he had heard Ororo knocking on his door for the first time.

"Come on", he heard Ororo say now, more softly than before. Peter almost felt bad for not answering. "Was it really that bad?"

_No._

The talk with the professor had been... nice. It had been comforting. The professor hadn't been mad at him. Fuck, he had practically offered him a job as a teacher. That meant he was okay with Peter staying here, like, forever. And _that_  meant the professor _knew_ Erik wouldn't mind. There was no way he wouldn't consider his bestie when it came to the bestie's mysterious son staying around. Forever.

He hadn't told Peter to stay the hell away from Erik, he didn't even think Peter _could_ upset the man. He had told that to Peter. Peter had to believe it.

He would have told Peter to leave if he thought Peter would hurt Erik. He hadn't. Peter had to believe it.

It hadn't made Peter any less nervous. Though, now he was a bit more excited. Maybe this wasn't such a mess of a situation. 

At least he knew he now had the professor in his back-up squad.

The professor had said Peter could tell Erik today. That there was a chance, the long wanted 'good time to tell', right now.

As if. No way. Too soon. Peter was not ready.

He should have made a deal: the professor would tell Erik he liiiiked him, and then Peter would tell Erik he had a son. Beautiful. A boyfriend and a baby on the same day.

Peter laughed. Ororo didn't hear it.

"Holy shit, Peter, you're scaring me." Ororo knocked again. "Let me in and tell me what happened. What did the professor say?"

She sounded weird. Wow, he had't intended to drag anyone with him into this. Sure, it was great to have someone to know his secret, but he didn't want anyone to worry about him.

Even though, now that he thought about it, it felt kinda cool to have someone other than your mom or professor being concerned about you.

But he was a big boy, he could take care of himself. Or he could at least try.

He was just tired as fuck. Nothing to worry about.

So he answered with the most carefree voice he could manage. "So you're my friend just for the latest Mutant Gossips?"

"Of course not." She laughed when hearing him joking. "I am your friend because I care about you and I want to help you. And it's kinda hard to help if I don't know the details. And it's more boring that way."

Peter got up, opened the door and showed Ororo he was okay. Or at least fine. "Agreed."

He was greeted with a smiling Ororo. "Fucking finally. You done napping?"

Peter made a face and stepped past her. "Take me to the chocolate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "what the hell's going on??" a book by erik, probably by charles too, but mostly by me as i try to write the chapter
> 
> THE STRUGGLE IS REAL  
> seriously tho, i had such hard time with this one. but now it's done, hopefully the next one will be easier (and funnier)
> 
> also, i made a promise to myself, long ago, that i would NEVER mention "charles' blue eyes" in ANY of my writings (because i got SICK of hearing about them, no matter how much I adore and love them)  
> ... but one does not simply not talk about charles' eyes
> 
> anyway
> 
> Thank you for reading~~ and for your patience with this chapter!


	10. Smile

Charles couldn't think of a lovelier sight than Erik cooking.

He would have done the cooking himself, but unfortunately they still hadn't gotten the kitchen customized for him and his wheelchair. He couldn't reach anything, and he wasn't going to fool around with the pliers in here. Those helped him look through the cupboards, but he would not touch food or jars with them.

He sighed, he had hoped there whould have been some leftovers. He had hoped they'd have  _something_ , but it seemed like someone had eaten pretty much all of their food. They were even out of spaghetti. They were _never_  out of spaghetti.

Though, given that it was actually past dinner time, it wasn't too shocking.

"Remind me to remind someone to go to the grocery store tomorrow", Charles said as he still tried to find anything else than secret chocolate bars and cereals.

Well, at least the children wouldn't starve in the morning.

Erik snorted. He had already told Charles four times he was happy with the little they had found.

Charles gave up on his quest for food and placed himself next to the table. He had the best view from there.

Erik's flannel was just short enough for Charles to see the back of his jeans. The jeans in question were nicely tight. Not that it was important knowledge. Or an appropriate observation at all.

But it did make the picture of _Erik Making Eggs & Bacon_ a masterpiece.

He tried not to think about Erik, in the early morning, in Poland, in his cozy house, cooking for his wife and daughter. His hair would be tousled, he would just have gotten out of the bed. He'd be yawning. His wife would hug him from behind. Kiss his cheek. He would smile.

Charles found himself hoping he could be able to live that image, experience that life with Erik. He knew he couldn't. But he hoped.

Peter's thoughts from earlier played in Charles' mind.

_'What if I'll have two dads.'_

What if.

Not letting himself fall any deeper, Charles cleared his throat and asked: "Don't you think it's a bit silly that we're eating breakfast for dinner?"

"I don't think it's silly at all", Erik answered. "As long as we'll get something to eat, yes?"

Charles noted these were the longest sentences Erik had spoken in the last twenty minutes.

He didn't ask again what was it on Erik's mind that got him like this. 

They continued in silence, but it wasn't an awkward kind of silence, not for Charles, at least. He enjoyed being here. Just being, with Erik. And though he could feel some restlessness in Erik's mind, he knew Erik didn't mind spending time with Charles. 

And that made very Charles happy.

_What if._

"What are you grinning about?"

Charles realized Erik had turned around, holding two plates of food in his hands.

And Charles was still staring at the spot where Erik's behind had been seconds (or minutes) ago.

"Nothing." Charles smiled even wider. "It looks good. The food I mean. I mean the food, of course. Not that you don't - I mean, everything looks good. And smells wonderful. The food. Because I cannot smell you from here. Not that I would smell you, though, because, because why would I do that, no I - I'm just thinking about the food, that's all."

Erik definitely didn't believe him, but at least now there was a smile on his lips.

"Here." Erik gave the other plate to Charles. "Hope it's good enough."

"I'm sure it is. Thank you."

Erik sat down in front of Charles, and it was like he couldn't wash away the smile now that it had taken over his face. He tried to hide it, but the lines on his cheeks and near his eyes didn't disappear even when his mouth was full of badly timed breakfast.

And in that moment Charles realized that even though it would be physically impossible and most likely very uncomfortable to lean over the table, all the way to meet Erik, he wanted to. He wanted to feel that brilliant smile before it could fade away.

Feel him. At least once. 

But Charles knew they weren't going to be alone for much longer, because there was someone getting closer to their kitchen. 

So it seemed he was forced to wait. But after over twenty years of waiting, a few minutes more did not feel like the end of the world.

\---

What were the chances?

_What were the fucking chances?_

Of course, of flipping course Erik and the professor were in the kitchen when Peter and Ororo had their chocolate hunt. Of course.

Jesus Christ. This damn day never ended.

"Peter!" the professor said cheerfully as Peter walked in, Ororo following him. "And Ororo."

It made Peter feel slightly less embarrassed when he saw the level ten and a half Heart Eyes the professor had been making at Erik just when Peter and Ororo had came interrupting their romantic meal.

Those two probably had more important stuff in mind than the awkward adventures of Peter Maximoff. So Peter tried to relax. "Evening professor. And Erik."

"I am afraid we are out of proper food", the professor said. "But I'm guessing there must be some restaurants open, you can borrow a car and I'll pay for your meal afterwards."

"Thanks, but we already ate", Ororo said, sitting down next to the professor. "Actually, I think Peter is the reason you don't have any more spaghetti."

"Is that so?" The professor laughed. "Then why are you here?"

Peter could see the real question without having the professor's voice in his head. _Are you here to tell him?_

 _Ah, ahaha. Nope. Not today._  "We're after your chocolate."

The professor nodded at their unspoken words. "Take whatever you like", he said. 

"Can we..." Ororo asked the professor, though she looked at Peter, right through his eyes into his scared little soul. "...keep you company for a while?"

Peter knew he had made a mistake telling her that everything was fine with him and the professor. Otherwise she might have just taken the chocolate and left. They could have had a nice chocolate picnic in his room. Without other human beings.

But no, she wanted to have her fun. Damn it.

"Sure". The professor's smirk was equal to the one on Ororo's stupid face. "I'm sure Erik and I would like that. Why don't you sit down, Peter?"

"Yeah, Peter", Ororo said. "Sit. There's a convenient empty chair next to Erik."

Peter could practically see Ororo and the professor do a mental high five.

Oh, come _on_. They were supposed to be on his side, not team up against him.

"We need to find that chocolate first", Peter told her. Like it would help anything.

"I got it!" Ororo announced. She got up and had four chocolate bars in her hands so fast Peter had to give her some credit.

She tossed two of them to Peter, who caught them with little effort.

Ororo started feasting on her snack, sitting down and leaning her elbows on the table as if to message Peter she was comfortable and not going anywhere for at least fifteen minutes.

Fuck her.

To show her he wasn't all hopeless little shit, and because it actually was the nearest seat, Peter sat next to Erik. No reason to walk all the way to the next chair. All the three steps it would take.

Why not take every chance to sit next to your Dad. Even if the Dad didn't react at all when you did. 

Fine then. 

Now what?

"Did you cook those eggs, Erik?" Ororo asked. "They're Peter's favorite. Maybe you can cook for him sometime?"

_Seriously, fuck you._

Erik didn't have time to answer, because the professor hurried to fill the non-existent silence.

"How was your training today, Peter?" he asked, smiling sweetly enough to prevent Peter thinking  _And fuck you too_ very loudly. "I forgot to ask earlier."

"That's okay, I saw you were too busy stealing Erik from me."

Peter said it to get back at him, but for some reason it made Erik move uncomfortably. Peter quickly continued: "It was great. You're a great teacher, man. I'm totally gonna ask you to help me again when I don't get what Raven's talking about. Should happen soon enough."

Ororo gave him a look that said _'Aww, now that's a good boy!'_

Peter answered with his best _Shut_   _your face_ -face.

But he had to admit that he was rather proud of himself. He took a bite of his chocolate to celebrate his Be Nice To Dad -achievement.

"I appreciate that", Erik said to Peter, though he gave most if his attention to the professor, as if he was afraid he'd get jealous or something. How cute.

"I knew he would be", the professor said. "A good teacher, that is. I always had faith in him."

"You have faith in everything and in everyone, Charles", Erik noted as he went to put his empty plate in the sink. 

It was a miracle Erik didn't notice the way the professor's eyes stayed on him. On all of him, like Erik was the most wonderful thing in the whole god damn universe. 

Peter had thought that gaze was something that happened only in the stories told by people in love. Fiction made by an overly happy and blurry minds. But there it was, in front him, and it was more true than most things in their weird lives.

It almost made him nauseous.

He was done with his second chocolate bar, but Ororo hadn't even finished her first one. On purpose. Peter was sure of it.

But at least she had her focus on her new victims. "How did the two of you meet?" 

"Erik was about to destroy a submarine", the professor told her. "About twenty years ago."

"Cool!" the twelve-year-old in Peter commented. In a fight between a submarine and his Dad, the submarine wouldn't stand a chance. "Like, were you underwater and all?"

"Yes", Erik said shortly. He didn't sit back down, but waited for Charles to finish his eggs.

Peter tried not to feel bad seeing Erik wanting to get away so fast.

Not that he could blame him, though. Peter himself wanted to leave. He needed sleep. They could continue the bonding time tomorrow.

"Oh, he was underwater", the professor went on. "If I remember correctly, I had to save him from drowning."

"How romantic."

Peter smirked at Ororo's comment. 

The professor almost chocked on his eggs.

Erik's ears were slightly red.

Peter decided to give them some mercy. "Ororo, are you done? Can we go now?" 

"No", she claimed, mouth half full of chocolate. How was there still so much left?

Even the professor was done eating, and Erik had moved on to do the dishes. They had a dishwasher, but maybe Erik just wanted to give his hands something to do. Peter could relate to that.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" she continued. "Don't you wanna stay here and talk with these nice men?"

Peter wished he could ignore Erik's curious look from the sink just then. "I'm tired."

She sighed. "Fine." It didn't take her more than few seconds to make the chocolate disappear. "Let's go, Sleeping Beauty. Good night, professor. Erik."

"See ya." Peter grinned at the two men, went after Ororo and mumbled: "If I was the Sleeping Beauty, I'd already be asleep."

Ororo gave a silent giggle.

"Sleep well", the professor said after them. "Don't stay up too late, tomorrow is a school day."

"You too." Ororo turned to smile at him in a way that made them all know what she meant.

Peter tried to hold his laugh until they were in his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "This damn day never ended" seriously though, if we don't count the first chapter it has only been little over 24 hours...? and it's still going on
> 
> do you know how disappointed i am because Careless Whisper wasn't out in the 80's? Because Peter would totally have made a comment about that song playing when Charles and Erik first met  
>   
> also it's 2am while im editing so don't mind me
> 
> thank you for reading ^^


	11. With Him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK ME THIS LONG TO UPDATE
> 
> though a week isn't that long but idk i guess i'm just afraid you'll forget about me or think i won't finish this fic.. I was going to update right after the last chapter (even had some of this shit written) but then i simply didn't have the time... like, i've had work 6 days a week, plus the studying and gah i just want to relax and write and sleep and catch some pokémon, ya feel me?
> 
> and i just want to say this again: your comments make my day. they keep me motivated. they make this 2049641% more fun. so thank you. i appreciate it. ♡
> 
> ANYWAY
> 
> YEAH.
> 
> OKAY
> 
> now, let's play a game called Spot the Song Lyrics~

"An university, Erik." Charles' eyes sparkled at him from across the table where their second game of chess was close to an end. Charles had won the one before, as Erik had predicted. "And not just for mutants, but for humans as well. Can you imagine that?"

"I can imagine you achieving anything you set your mind on", Erik said and moved his queen, though there was little he could do to win at this point. "But do you really think that's wise? I mean, it could be dangerous. There are bad people in the world, Charles, what if they learn about your university?"

"Then let them", Charles declared. "I can handle them. And besides, I believe there are more good people on this planet than bad. We will help each other."

"Some of them want to use you, Charles", Erik said. "Abuse your powers, just like En Sabah Nur did."

"As I said." Charles quickly moved his piece, taking out Erik's queen. "I can handle it. I'm not alone, I got the x-men. And I got you."

"Yes", Erik said. It didn't matter which piece he moved now, so he didn't pay much attention. "You do."

Charles leaned his elbows on his knees as he smiled at Erik, ignoring his turn. "I believe my university would bring the mutants and the humans together. Everyone will see how we can live in harmony."

Erik gave a silent chuckle. He had known Charles for almost half of his life, and yet Charles was still the same. He still had such an idealistic mind.

"What a sweet dream you have there, Charles."

There was something new in Charles' laugh when he said: "Oh, you have no idea, my friend. Checkmate."

They were both tired, they both knew they weren't going to start a new game. But neither one of them made a move to leave.

Then, Erik spoke. "What was that?"

"That, my dear friend, was me beating you in chess, again", Charles kindly told him. "Erik, can you do me a favor?"

"What is it?"

"Will you help me to the couch, please?"

Erik frowned. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, it's okay." Charles had already moved closer. "Hank does it all the time."

That was a lie. Hank had done it twice, and soon after that, Charles had decided he could very well use his own arms to move himself.

Charles had told that to Erik just a few days ago.

But Erik didn't question it. He got up. "So, what do I do?"

"Wrap your arms around me", Charles guided. "No, from under my arms. Yes, that's good. Now, I count to three, and you lift me and move me."

"To the couch?"

"Yes, Erik", Charles said, his arms around Erik's neck. Maybe it should have felt awkward, but it didn't. If anything, it felt soft, but that might have been because of Charles' shirt. Might have. "To the couch. Quickly, please. This bloody chair is killing my arse."

"Okay then." Erik got himself ready. "We don't want your ass hurting."

"Don't we?" Charles didn't wait for Erik to react. "One, two..."

On _three_  Erik got Charles up from the chair and swung him to the couch. Just like that.

"Thank you", Charles said and leaned back as Erik let go of him.

"No problem." Erik sat next to him, maybe a bit closer than usual, but if Charles noticed, he didn't say anything about it.

"I've been asking for a more comfortable chair for ages", he said. "I know Hank's busy, but you'd think it would be easy to at least get some kind of a pillow."

"I meant in the kitchen."

Charles gave him the confused look Erik had been expecting for jumping into the new subject like that. "I'm sorry?"

"I meant", Erik repeated. "What was that in the kitchen? With you all being so weird. Don't think I didn't notice."

"Oh, that", Charles chuckled. "I'm sorry, my friend. We were just teasing you two. I hope Peter will come talk to you about it soon. You have a right to know."

"I think I know just enough."

Charles looked at him, slightly alarmed. "You do?"

"Come on, Charles." Erik found it almost funny how surprised Charles was. Surely he had guessed Erik would figure it out. "It's fairly obvious at this point."

"Oh..." For a moment, Charles looked like he wanted to escape the room, like he had done something wrong. Like this was his fault. "So...How do you feel?"

"Surprised. Awkward." Erik tried to laugh a little. It didn't work. "To be honest, Charles, I'm not sure what I should do."

"You don't have to do anything", Charles told him, gently. "I'm sure he doesn't expect you to do anything. He just wants to get to know you."

"Yeah. I've noticed that."

Charles a laughed, he was much better at it than Erik. "I guess he isn't too careful about it. He only means well."

How did he sound so relaxed?

It was hard for Erik to concentrate. He was aware of his thigh, of Charles' thigh warm next to it, touching all the way.

Erik didn't remember moving there. They were so close to each other, even though there was enough couch for two more people.

Charles, once again, said nothing.

"Doesn't it... doesn't it bother you?" Erik had to ask. "Peter. At all?"

Charles frowned. Erik would have thought he looked adorable, had there not been the cold feeling Charles' answer send raging inside Erik. "Why would it bother me?"

"I don't know." Erik thought he should move. Give Charles some space. But he didn't. He could't make himself do it. "Maybe I thought that, you know, since we are close friends, you and I, and now Peter comes in and... Maybe I thought you might get jealous."

"Oh no, I'm not jealous at all!" Charles said to him in the way you told someone _'yes, I would love to be the flower boy at your wedding!'._  And he went on: "I think this is a wonderful thing, Erik. Absolutely wonderful. Peter is a great kid."

Erik sighed, he hoped Charles didn't hear it.

But of course Charles did. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes", Erik assured, nodding as convincingly as he could. Which wasn't that convincing. "Yes, everything's fine. I appreciate your support. I believe you, I too think Peter's a good person."

"So what's the problem then?"

This sigh was louder, because Charles should have thought about it without Erik having to explain it to him. "I'm old enough to be his father, Charles."

_"What?"_

Erik imagined that had Charles been drinking tea, he would have spilled it all over the room just then.

Soon Charles' frown changed into a wide-eyed realization Erik didn't understand. " _Oh!_ Oh, you think...  _oh_."

While Charles broke into a hysterical giggle, Erik said: "I don't understand why this is so funny to you."

"I'm sorry, Erik." Charles tried to control his face with terrible success. "I'm sorry, it's nothing."

Erik didn't believe it, but let it go. Let Charles have his fun. Erik was way too tired to think about it any more. He'd ask again tomorrow.

"Actually", Charles then said and turned to face Erik, as well as he could. His words were serious, but his face was still laughing, though now Erik could see he was a bit... nervous? "It's not okay. Or, what I mean is that it would bother me."

Something in Erik's head must have been yelling _'confused'_ , because Charles added: "You and Peter."

_Oh._

Charles' (barely visible) nervousness made Erik more confident about his own smirk. "Really?"

It was the beginning of an intense staring contest, during which at least one of the participants was unsure of where it was going.

Erik hated to admit his confidence had died away way too fast.

Though the nervousness already gone, Charles didn't answer him, only smiled.

Slowly, he lifted his hand on Erik's jaw.

The silence hit Erik in the face, it was heavy, it was loud. Mixed with Charles' knowing eyes on him, his hand holding Erik's face, it made his chest ache.

He wasn't sure if the feeling was bad or good. Wonderful, or frustrating. In a good way. The best way.

Had he remembered how to function, Erik would've placed his own hand over Charles'. But even after he did defeat the numbness, catching his breath, Erik stayed still, for he was afraid the slightest move would make Charles move away.

Erik heard himself talking: "Can I stay here for the night?"

"Of course." Charles moved his thumb, it tickled Erik's cheek. "You feel like you're going to have dreams again?"

"No." Erik shook his head, just a little so Charles wouldn't move his hand. "No. I want to be here with you."

Charles wasn't going anywhere, wasn't going to move away. Erik knew that. 

"Stay for as long as you like."

No, he was only coming closer.

For once, Erik wished Charles would read his mind, because he himself had absolutely no idea what was going on in there.

\---

Charles was certain Erik was going to meet him half way.

Still, he stopped just before their noses could touch, and asked: "Is this alright?"

"Yes", Erik breathed, his eyes half closed. "Can't you see?"

The tiny, unintentional glimpse into Erik's mind showed Charles nothing but his own face, already moving together with Erik's.

It was all he needed to see.

Charles hadn't planned this when asking to get to the couch. But, dear lord, was he happy they had ended up there.

Because, after a few gentle kisses to make sure Erik wasn't running away, there was no stopping him.

He didn't need to ask Erik to lean down, he didn't need to reach far. There wasn't anything between them, no chair making it more difficult.

Sure, his legs were still useless. But everything else in him? Never worked better. 

He had never _felt_ better.

Erik didn't seem to mind Charles getting all over him, kissing his lips and face numb, grabbing on his clothes with such force the flannel would most likely have small nail shaped holes on it.

But Erik didn't mind. If anything, he was enjoying it.

Charles let out a soundless laugh as he felt Erik pressing against him, answering to his every kiss, carefully, clearly concerned he might hurt Charles or even make him fall from the couch.

Oh , _'go for it'_  ,Charles thought as Erik tangled both of his hands in Charles' hair. Charles had never been happier about not staying bald. _'I'd be perfectly comfortable down there, like this.'_

Erik chuckled against his mouth.

It was too hot. How could Erik bear the heat in that shirt?

_Forget the damn flannel._

Erik broke the kiss and leaned their heads together as Charles started pulling his shirt off. "Charles -"

Charles kissed his nose. "Shut up."

"You really want to take my clothes off?" Erik asked, in spite of Charles' efforts to actually make him shut up.

"To be honest, my mind is a little blurry right now." Charles kept his lips close to Erik's skin while whispering into his ear. "And I don't know how this looks or feels like to you, but, if you don't mind me saying, I definitely think you're wearing too much clothing."

"I agree", Erik said, but leaned back from Charles' touch.

"But?"

"But this is new."

"Yes." Charles looked away. He hadn't done anything wrong, yet he was still afraid that he had. That Erik would go now, leave him. "Yes, I know."

"But." Erik's fingers lifted Charles chin up, so he could see his smile. "If I now let you take off the flannel, but promise you can take off more next time, will you survive?"

If the grin on Charles' face got any wider, his face would break. But if his smile made Erik that happy, it would be worth it.

"We have a deal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE.
> 
> This was me going "K RIGHT FUCK THE PLOT AND JUST KISS k thanks."  
> and then there was me going "okay good now thaT'S ENOUGH CHARLES PLZ CHILL."
> 
> tfw you're tired and can't remember if you already used that sentence or phrase earlier in this fic. Or if it's even english. oh well
> 
> "He had known Charles for almost half of his life" i mean.... kinda? in this timeline? i'm too lazy to check that fact rn, just roll with it~
> 
> and erik totally had to hug charles to get him to the couch, no metal on him anywhere. yes.
> 
> aaaand just to out it out there, there might not be real actual smut in the future (aka me being an asexual prude... well, not prude, smut's cool but im just not used to writing it)
> 
> i got another busy week coming, it'll probably take a while until the next update I'M SORRy (i'm apologizing and babbling about this so i won't get too stressed about this during the week.. don't mind me)
> 
> thank you for reading ♡ hope you liked this chapter~


	12. Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1000+ KUDOS!!! THANK YOU!! THAT'S HUGE FOR ME ♡ 
> 
> so my laptop is broken. (and it sucks bc i have so many new ideas and finally some free time and i mean i am in need for some scorbus fluff, anyone feel me?) and even tho i do most of the writing and editing on my phone, i still need the laptop in the first stage of editing when all i have is an ugly pile of typos... 
> 
> so, after about a week, my mom gave me her laptop for emergency use (aka i should be writing three essays...fuck studying i say, i have fics to write.) BUT NOW I CANT FUCKING CONNECT IT To MY WIFI AND I AM PISSED.
> 
> and after hours of fighting that useless old crap i gave up and ended up doing this shit all on my phone. so i apologize for the typos and mistakes and everything else that might be. blame technology.
> 
> someday i will stop babbling in these notes. but today is not that day~
> 
> aaaaanyway, enjoy your well earned chapter!

Peter woke up when a cold wind send him flying form his bed.

"Can you _please_ not do that?"

Ororo was fully dressed and ready to go, standing in the middle of Peter's small room. 

"We're late from class", she said. "And I couldn't get you up any other way."

Peter would have teased Ororo to the death about the _any other way_ s she had tried, but he was so sleepy he thought he'd just make himself look more stupid than usual.

"What class?" he asked instead, crawling back in his bed. "More importantly, can we miss it?"

Ororo stole his blanket before he had a change to hide under it. He settled in curling up and hugging his pillow.

She let the blanket drop on the floor. "French."

Peter kept his eyes shut. "Fuck."

Guess he had to get up then. He wasn't going to miss his Dad's class. What would Erik think of Peter if he did? Crazy Lazy Awkward Peter. Who would want that as a son?

Peter felt his chances for approval tiny already, he didn't want to risk it.

"And you already missed your first class." Ororo tossed a pile of clothes at him (from where she had found them, Peter had no idea). "It's almost past the lunch time."

"What?" Peter asked from under a t-shirt, jeans and the (supposedly clean) boxers that had landed on his head. "Then why the fuck didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"I thought you'd want to sleep," she mumbled while getting something from the desk behind her. "Anyway. There's your coffee."

Peter felt sincerely grateful and accepted the coffee, still hugging the pillow with one hand. "Thanks."

"No problem." She sat down on his desk. How did she even find a spot to sit on in that mess? "Now. Change. So we can get going."

Peter sat up, she stayed sitting down.

Peter looked at her.

She looked back at him.

Peter took a sip of his coffee.

She swung her legs.

He took another sip.

"What?" she finally asked.

Third sip. "Are you just going to stay there watching while I change?"

She snorted, but Peter could imagine her turning slightly red.

"It's not like I'll be able to see anything", she pointed out. "You'll be too fast. Hurry up."

Just to annoy her, Peter put the coffee on the floor and slowly took off the shirt he had been wearing over night. He threw it on the floor with the blanket. He took a good look at the new one.

The coffee was getting cold.

He 'accidentally' ended up wearing the shirt upside down. So, naturally, he had to take it off again. 

Ororo did an impressive job pretending not to care.

\---

Peter woke up when Ororo punched his shoulder.

"Seriously, you slept well last night, didn't you?" she hissed. "Could you at least _try_ to be awake? This class is boring enough without you abandoning me like that."

While she talked, Peter checked if Erik, or anyone, was listening.

The man in front of them looked tired, he had told them to do some intependent studying (whatever that meant) while he was just sitting behind his desk, drinking coffee and not paying much attention to anything but his own thoughts.

Peter wished he could do the same.

"Gotta use my chance", he said to Ororo, though he did regret falling asleep during his Dad's class. Again. "I don't think I'll ever be able to sleep again. Too much Dad-Drama keeping me awake at night."

"You can count dads!" Ororo realized with laugh silent enough to not to draw attention to them. "' _One dad, two dads, three dads...'_ You'll be asleep in no time!"

"When the fuck did I get a third one?"

She shrugged, still very proud of her joke. "I'm sure Raven and Hank would totally adopt you. Or Jean and Scott. That would get you to four."

With the sound of his name, Scott moved his chair closer and leaned to whisper to Peter: "Dude."

"Dude?" Peter answered.

"I hear from Kurt you have the hots for Raven." Scott waited to see any reaction from Peter. When he didn't get any, he went on: "That's crazy, she's totally out of your league, man. But I do respect you. I wouldn't have the guts to go after her."

"I hear you wanted a motorbike just so you could impress Jean", Peter said, successfully ignoring Scott's words. "How's that going for you?"

How Peter wished he could see the boy's eyes. He was sure there was at least some sort of horror and teenage embarasement glowing in them.

"Where did you hear that?"

"It's true?" Ororo commented.

"I also heard the bike isn't running yet", Peter added.

Scott kept his attention across the room, on Jean, making sure she didn't hear.

Peter wondered why Scott didn't just tell Jubilee to piss off and go sit next to Jean himself. Would be a lot easier than the whole motorbike business.

"Yeah", Scott then said. There was very little shame in his voice. "I mean, can _you_ think of anything hotter than a good-looking guy building a motorbike?"

"A good-looking guy actually driving it?" Peter suggested.

"You know what I mean. Ororo agrees with me, don't you?"

"I do." She nodded. "And Peter does, too."

"There you go." Not staying for any more chatting, Scott moved back to his place, to pretend he was working with his French. Probably to impress Jean.

Peter should have been trying to impress Erik, but studying was so... it was studying. Not his favorite thing, not unless they were learning something cool. He could learn shit quite fast, if he bothered.

But he couldn't be bothered. Simple as that.

He decided he'd consider this studying-thing again after he had told Erik. Maybe teaching would be more fun, after all. He could teach the kids... the brief history of dinosaurs? He had been seriously into that stuff as a seven-year-old. He'd be a pro.

Peter's note to self: after telling Erik, talk about dinosaurs with the professor.

Peter listened to Ororo trying to pronounce French stuff. Who was _she_  trying to impress with this funny language? Peter didn't wonder about it for too long, she wasn't the only one doing their 'best' as the class was coming to it's end.

Trying to look like a good, hard thinking student (without actually doing any work), Peter ran his hand through his more or less messy hair. 

He found a tiny braid in his hair. No. _Two_. "Seriously, Ororo?"

So he had indeed slept well.

"I don't know what you're talking about", she said innocently, holding her laugh remarkably well.

Peter let the braids be.

As Erik announced the class dismissed, Ororo turned to Peter. "You remember what we talked last night?"

"Yes, and it is a stupid plan", he whispered to her when she started to pick up her stuff while others quickly left the room. 

The plan wasn't even that stupid, it was actually fairly simple. Go to Erik, tell him now.

But still. "This is a stupid thing. It's all stupid."

"You're stupid."

Peter hated that in this serious moment, as his already dead nerves were killing his surviving nerves, she managed to make him laugh like everything was okay. Only by saying a stupid B+ comment like that.

"I must be, since I'm still doing this", Peter said before his smile died down.

"That's my boy." She grinned. "Don't worry, I'll be with you through it. Go. Now."

Peter was ready to run away to his room and stay there forever, but some part of him was so flipping tired of waiting it got him up from his seat.

_\---_

Erik was more than happy this was his only class of the day.

He wasn't that tired, he had actually slept pretty well, but he had hard time consentrating on anything. He blamed Charles for that.

It had been easy to make the kids do intependent studying, so he didn't really need to teach or do much if they didn't ask anything. Which was usually the case.

Raven would take over the x-men training for today, as she had promised just this morning. So as soon as the rest of the students got out of the room, Erik was free to go see if Charles was busy with whatever he was doing between his classes.

But so far it seemed he wouldn't have a chance to see Charles before his next class. For there were still two students who just weren't going to leave quickly.

Of course it was Ororo and Peter.

"Everything okay?" Erik asked, more to politely get them to hurry up than from out of concern.

Though, Peter did look like he was about to throw up.

"Yep, yes, sure! Everything's great!" he said and took a few carefull steps closer to Erik. "Actually I... I need to talk to you about something."

Erik kept his face straight. "And what would that be?"

"I umh." Peter glanced at Ororo. She nodded, encouraging him. "I'm... This might be a bit of a surprise for you. Or maybe not. I don't really know, maybe it isn't a surprise at all, maybe you don't even care, which is fine, no big deal, but I think you should still knew, I mean, what I'm trying to say is..."

He took a deep breath.

"You... I mean I am... We are... umh."

Another deep breath.

"The thing is that you and I... We... I... Uh, fuck it, we're out of toilet paper."

Erik stared at him.

Ororo stared at him.

Peter closed his eyes.

"And I thought you'd want to know... like, I mean, we need to get more toilet paper... obviously, or things will get messy and uncomfortable and we don't want that, don't we. And by we I mean all of us, though now it's just you and me, and well Ororo is right there but she's just there watching us talking, or actually just me talking, so anyway, tolet paper. More. To the store must we go."

Erik knew very well that this wasn't what Peter had had in mind. But he was not in the mood for unrequited love confessions. Not right now.

To make sure Peter was done talking, Erik waited a beat before answering: "Yes, of course. I'll talk to Charles and he and I will go get you your toilet paper."

"Uh, oh, no, no, I mean... I want to go with you. You know, _you_  because I'm...." There was that awkward pause again. And a sigh. "I... Because I just really enjoy your company, man. And I ... was the one who noticed the toilet paper -disaster, and the one who ate all your spaghetti. We should get more spaghetti as well. And I should go with you. Please?"

"Alright", Erik said. Anything to get out of the room. "I'll still have to talk to Charles about it."

"Yeah, sure." Peter nodded. "We have the x-men training next, anyway. But after that we're both free, right? We can go then?"

"Oh yes", said Ororo who, apparently, was pissed. At Peter? "And while you're at it, why won't the two of you get some ice cream as well!"

Peter gave her a look.

Erik decided to ignore all that, for Peter's sake.

"I'll see you after the training", Erik promised and made his way to the door. No matter if those two stayed here after him. He only had a couple of minutes left to see Charles.

"Wait so you're not going to be training us today?" Peter sounded genuinely disappointed.

"No."

"Oh, okay." Peter managed a smile. "I'll see you after that, then."

"Close the door when you leave", Erik told them and walked away, wishing three hours would be enough time for Peter to forget about the whole thing.

\---

Ororo slapped Peter's head the second Erik was out of sight. "What the hell was that?"

"I panicked."

"Peter, this is just like the last time."

"No", Peter said. "Last time I wasn't going to tell him in the first place. I was going to tell him _while_  we were hanging out."

"And you didn't. You paniced." She sighed and sat down on Erik's table, shaking her head. "What are you going to do now?"

Peter felt her frustration, he was frustrated (and embarassed once again) too, but he shrugged, smiling. "I'm going go buy toilet paper and eat ice cream with my Dad."

And, now that he thought about it, it didn't sound too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know i've been saying i inted to keep peter & ororo's thing a friendship... but it turns out i kinda low key ship it. oops.
> 
> they can still be best bros tho
> 
> we are getting somewhere, i promoise! i have been planning the awkward grocery store trip from the very beginning. i wanna see what happens
> 
> we'll get there
> 
> more soon if i'll get a proper conputer. 
> 
> thank you for reading! ^^


	13. Is

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so today's my birthday and im having a huge ass crazy wild fancy fanfic writing party alone with chocolate and my cats. bc im cool and social like that
> 
> to celebrate, i give you A NEW CHAPTER
> 
> YAY
> 
> also, we have an end in sight! the number of chapters might still change (since i am still coming up with the stuff as I go..) but yeah

If it hadn't been for his wheelchair, Charles would have ran to Erik the second he saw him arrive to the door. 

Though, at the precise moment the wheelchair did more good than bad, for Charles was quite sure Erik wasn't comfortable hugging (let alone kissing, which would happened if Charles had any say in the matter) in front of Charles' students.

There were good twenty minutes left. It didn't matter, Charles was the professor, this was his school, so he would end the class whenever he wished. 

"And then this person wrote the nice book, more about that later", Charles quickly told his students. "That is it for today, great job everybody. Class dismissed."

No one complained.

Charles headed straight to Erik, nodding goodbyes to the children as they went.

He slowed down his enthusiasm and smile when he noticed something was bothering Erik. He didn't look sad or worried, so maybe he wasn't haunted by his memories. 

"What's the matter?" Charles asked after the last student got out and shut the door behind her.

It was something Charles was afraid of, that Erik would suddenly feel wrong about him, about them, because the memory of his wife and daughter might still be too fresh.

"I need to talk to you", Erik said and stepped closer.

"So soon?" Charles chuckled. It must have sounded more nervous than he really was. Actually, no. Maybe he truly was a bit nervous. "It hasn't even been 20 hours."

Erik's chuckle was much more relaxed. Which, given his seriousness just seconds ago, almost confused Charles. "Not that kind of a talk, Charles."

As Erik leaned to kiss him, Charles realized he'd been silly. 

The kisses he had gotten since last night let Charles know he had nothing to worry about. If Erik felt even half as strongly as Charles did, he must have felt it for years. Even if he had felt for someone else in between their years apart, it had been there, it had grown, and it wasn't going anywhere. And they both new it.

If it hadn't been for his wheelchair, Charles wouldn't let Erik leave so easily. He'd follow him up, standing on his tiptoes like his life depended on it.

They hadn't kissed enough to cover for twenty years, though they had gotten close. They were getting close to many things. But, especially since they weren't getting any younger and had already wasted all those moments they could have had, 'close' didn't feel enough.

But for Erik, it had to be. And Charles could understand it. He sat back on his chair, letting the smile stay on his face. "I'm listening."

Erik had his hands in his pockets. "It's Peter." 

"What about him?" Charles asked. "Did he miss your class?"

"No he..." Erik scratched the back of his head. "He was very noticeably there." 

Charles smiled even wider. He could only imagine Peter, trying to be casual around his father (and most likely failing miserably). What had the poor boy tried to do or say this time? "How so?"

Erik took a deep breath, like he was about to say something big. "He asked me out on a date."

Charles had to bit his tongue, his eyes full of tears of laughter. "Are you you sure?"

"Yes."

Now this was simply ridiculous. There would soon be a hole in Charles' tongue. "What kind of a date?"

"He used toilet paper as an excuse to get me to go to the grocery store with him."

"Oh dear god, the grocery store!" Charles gasped. "That is where I was planning to take you on our first date! How very rude of Peter. I must say, I didn't expect him to be such a romantic."

"I'm serious, Charles", Erik said, truly serious. "I don't know what to do."

"Hear me out, Erik", Charles said, not joking this time. He had promised Peter he wouldn't tell his secret, and he wouldn't, but, as fun as it was to watch Erik being totally clueless, Charles did feel a little sorry for him. "I don't think you need to worry about Peter."

When Erik didn't seem to believe his words, Charles added with a friendly grin: "He's a nice young man, I'm sure you will have nice time."

"Stop it, Charles."

He was serious, seriously hopeless and uncomfortable. Poor man.

"I'm sorry. I'm just teasing you", Charles told him, as calm and assuring as he could. "I honestly think you have nothing to worry about."

Erik sighed, sitting down in a chair closest to Charles. "What am I going to do with that boy, Charles?"

"You are going on a date with him."

Erik shook his head. "Why on Earth would I do that?"

"Because we need toilet paper", Charles explained with a shrug, like it was the most obvious solution to Erik's problem.

They actually didn't, though. They had a whole room dedicated to toilet paper and such so this kind of an emergency wouldn't be possible. Every other month Charles send Hank to get more, and the last time that had happened had been last weekend.

"And we do need something to feed the children. I advised them to go eat out today, since we couldn't go shoping earlier."

This Erik understood, but he didn't look any happier.

Then, he asked: "Can you come with us?"

Charles had seen this coming, but he had to think about it. He didn't want to ness up Peter's plans. Whatever those were. But then again, he wanted to help Erik feel more comfortable. And who knew, maybe Peter would be needing some support as well.

Before he answered to Erik, Charles reached Peter's mind. 

_"Peter?"_

_"Present"_ , answered Peter. _"Or, like, not actually, I'm here in the middle of training, but you know-"_

 _"Peter, what is this toilet paper nonsense with Erik?"_ Charles asked.

 _"I'm just trying to spend time with my Dad, professor."_ Charles felt him laughing, awkwardly. _"You can't have him all to yourself, you know. You already have the nights, let me have the days. It's only fair."_

Charles frowned, trying to control his thoughts so they would sound calm. Unsuccessfully.  _"How'd you-"_

 _"So there is something between you two!"_ More laughter. If it was possible to hear blushing in one's thoughts, Peter had definitely experience that. _"Oh my god, I gotta go tell Ororo and -"_

_"Peter!"_

_"Yes?"_

Charles stayed quiet for couple of seconds.

 _Then, "_ _Do you mind if I come to the store with you?"_

 _"No"_ , answered Peter's thoughts after another short while. _"No, you can come. But I am not having you two having any kind of dance without pants between your minds while I'm around, ok?"_

This kid was hopeless. As hopeless as his dad, even if in a different way.

 _"Sure",_ Charles promised, refusing to get any more embarrassed. _"We will come to you after your training."_

Charles could imagine a nod. _"Cool."_

"Why are you so red?"

Charles met Erik's eyes as he let go of Peter's mind. "No reason."

Erik had moved his chair closer to Charles'. "So, are you coming with us?"

"Yes, I'll join you." Charles smiled and reached out to take Erik's hand. "Just promise me you won't worry about Peter. It's going to be fun."

Erik looked their hands, not yet used to seeing them together. He let his lips curl into a tiny smile. "I'm starting to think you and I have very different opinions about 'fun'."

"We'll see about that", Charles said and leaned to give that precious smile a kiss.

\---

 " _Ouch!_ Peter, that was my boob!"

"You mean to tell me you felt that through the armor?" Peter said, though he did feel a little sting of guilt in his gut, seeing Ororo holding herself, pain and anger visible in her eyes. 

But her dignity was untouched, she needed no pity. Just for Peter to know he had made a mistake.

"I'll kick you in between your legs and we'll see if you can feel anything through the armor", she announced.

Peter would have laughed, but Ororo sounded dead serious. He had no doubt she would do it.

"Sorry", he said. If it had been her arm, he would have gently touched it to show her he hadn't meant it to hurt. To magically touch the pain away. But it wasn't her arm. So his hand stayed politely in it's place. "I was distracted. The professor was in my head."

"Oh?" She was still holding her chest and keeping an eye on Peter's leg that had swung a lot higher than Peter had expected. And he had to admit that, with his superpower, the kick must have been pretty hard. 

Peter reminded himself to apologize again later.

Because right now, Ororo was already interested in the new topic. "What did he say?"

"That he's coming to the store with me and Erik."

Ororo found this extremely funny, or so Peter figured from the laughter that echoed around the Danger Room for solid thirty seconds.

"Good." She giggled. "He'll make a great third wheel. He'll ditch you in the middle of your precious toilet paper and won't let you leave the store before you talk to Erik."

Peter snorted. A part of him hoped the professor would do just that. "Also, he and Erik are totally a couple."

She laughed again and gave him a high five. "What did we say! But you are changing the subject."

She tried to attack him, but it ended up lazy. He didn't bother to defend. The close combat exercise had been fun for the first hour, but now they both were getting tired. That, and she was still in pain. 

"I swear to god, if you won't tell Erik soon, I will", she said. "And I'm sure I'll get the professor to join me."

"At this rate I probably need that..."

"Peter! Ororo!" Raven shouted from across the room. "Why don't I see you training?"

"Sorry, Raven" Peter waved his hand at her. "We were just -"

Raven was already coming closer. "Peter. I've got something to talk to you about."

A few feet from them, Scott got punched in the head by Jean, for he had stopped to stare at them and hadn't seen her coming. 

Peter wanted to hide behind Ororo.

_Shit._

Looking as cool as the ever burning Hell, Peter said to Raven: "Yeah?"

She didn't care who was listening as she asked, loud and clear: "What is this crap about you having a crush on me?"

Peter made a face. What kind of a face, he wasn't really sure. "What do you know about that?"

She crossed her arms and, for whatever reason, she looked at Ororo, then back at Peter. "I know it's total bullshit."

Peter nodded slowly, and smiled. "I am happy you know that."

Despite her hard confidence, she looked slightly relived. She leaned closer to Peter. "But why was Kurt telling me that?"

"Because that's what Jean told him to cover up for me with the... the Erik situation", Peter told her, glad she had lowered her voice and understood this wasn't exactly public information. "Because I need to keep it a secret for a while longer."

"You still haven't told him." 

"I know right", Ororo said.

"But I _will!_ " Peter said to the girls. "I'll tell him today."

"Well, good luck with that." Peter could have sworn Raven sounded... understanding. And it warmed his heart. "Erik can be scary, but I'm sure he'll be fine. You'll be fine. Both of you."

Why did everyone think Peter was afraid of Erik? Okay, he was, but not because Erik was scary. Which he was. But not to Peter. 

No, Peter was only afraid of himself and his nerves, and his poor failure ass he was about to toss into another person's life.

Trying his best to ignore his thoughts, he smiled at Raven. "Thanks."

She nodded. "Don't let it distract you. This is important training."

Then she was gone, the rest of the hour busy showing some moves to Kurt. 

"She's cool", Ororo said, dodging Peter's slow punch.

Peter let Ororo's kick land on his side. Though he had told Erik he thought Raven was scary as fuck, he actually agreed with Ororo. Raven was intense, sure, but she wasn't bad nor scary. Just serious. And that was fine. That was what you needed to be to get the likes like Scott to concentrate and listen while training.

"I should get her to my and the professors' _Save Peter from Humiliation_ \- club", Ororo said. "We will tell Erik, so no one has to suffer any longer."

"Appreciate it." Peter laughed. He made sure his kick was slow, if it even reached her. "Probably need it. But I guess this is something I need to do myself."

"Yes", Ororo agreed. Her next punch was so fast Peter didn't need to pretend he couldn't block it. "It is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to apologize for misspelling "toilet" for like 389463294 times in the last chapter :"D
> 
> [here's a pic of my cat who wanted to help me with this chapter. ](http://humanityssweetest.tumblr.com/tagged/spending-my-birthday-alone-with-kittens-and-fics) Because sharing pictures of my cats is what i do with my life
> 
> hope you liked the chapter, thank you for reading! ^^


	14. Your

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to hear more excuses why i haven't been updating more often? I'll tell you anyway.
> 
> i got this sudden inspiration to finish up my original work and then (after HOURS of writing and HOURS of editing and HOURS of panicking.) i sent it to two publishers and im still freaking out and holy shit and anyway that's done now so i try to concentrate on finishing this fic, yes
> 
> now some real notes:  
> I would have made the trip more detailed but i have no idea what (like brands and products...) they have in the grocery stores in there, let alone in the 80's, so this is what we got.

Even with the memory of Ororo's encouraging smile fresh in his mind, Peter knew exactly how he felt. Awful.

Imagine the worst car drive you've ever had. Then double it. Remember that, even though it is a really beautiful car, it's uncomfortable as fuck. Like, as if the seats were made of solid wood and tears of infants.

So you feel sorry for your butt. Add one father that doesn't know he's related to you, not talking to you, not even looking at you. Practically ignoring your very existence.

And then, oh, you must not forget about the thirty minutes of sexual tension between the Dad™ and his Secret Boyfriend(™). 

So yeah. Not the best time in Peter's life.

The back seat made him feel more like a child than anything, but at least he didn't need to sit in the middle of all that way too warm eye contact.

In a way he was happy he wasn't in this situation alone, alone with Erik, because who knew what kind of a disaster that might have been.

Still. This was the worst thing ever. 

He couldn't decide which way to look from the windows. He couldn't move his feet as much as he wanted to. The drive was too long. He would have already been there, had he run.

"Is everything alright, Peter?" asked the professor, _Charles_ , as he had wished Peter to call him.

Peter guessed the old man was trying to get friendly now that he would soon be Peter's step dad. That, or then Charles was worried Peter would run around the globe (which he very well might. Which he very much wanted right now) telling everyone about him and Erik. As if that, the mighty professor and the scary magnet man together in the beautiful land of love, would be such a shock to anyone. 

"You seem awfully quiet", Charles noted when he didn't hear Peter answer. His voice was genuine as ever.

"Yeah, I'm cool", Peter said. It was the first thing he had said during that whole time. He didn't want to check if his uncontrollable babble would be any better than the painfully awkward silence.

"Do you need something else from the store?" Charles tried again.

Peter didn't know if he was over-analyzing the friendliness, it wasn't like Charles wouldn't care about pretty much everyone on this planet.

But there _was_  something in the way he turned on the front seat to give Peter a smile. 

Fuck. The two dads -thing had been a joke, and now it had become more real that Peter was comfortable with. Though, it would need a miracle to get him comfortable right now.

And this wasn't even the real dad. The real dad didn't know. Anything. 

"Nah." Peter hoped Charles knew he wasn't being rude. Or, at least he didn't mean to. "I'm cool. Yeah."

Charles nodded and turned to talk to the mute driver's seat. "What about you, Erik?"

Erik was busy keeping quiet and driving. Peter wasn't surprised about that. Nor was he surprised they hadn't even considered letting Peter drive. Though, Peter thought, this god damn awful drive would already be over if they had. That would have been better for everyone.

"Didn't we make a list, Charles?" Erik asked stiffly, apparently unable to ignore Charles as well he ignored Peter. "I think it's all there."

Charles didn't let them bring his smile down. Peter was glad at least one of them was able to behave like a decent human being. 

Not that he blamed Erik for being cold. Peter had probably freaked him out with all his...Peter-ness.

"You never know what you'll need when you go to a store." Charles didn't need look right into Peter's eyes for Peter to know he was talking to him. And to Erik. But Erik didn't know. "You never know what you'll get."

Peter almost sighed.

If he kept feeling and acting like this, none of them would get anything.

So Peter decided that, starting from the second he'd get out of this car, he'd smile, he'd laugh, he would talk to Erik weather he liked it or not. The 'he' being Peter and/or Erik.

_Fuck._

Why had this been a good idea?

It hadn't. That was is. This hadn't even been an idea, this was an accident, a panicked back-up-babbling that had backfired before Peter even knew it could lit up.

But it would get better.

Eventually.

Maybe.

Soon.

Hopefully.

God fucking damn it.

Peter's fingers tapped on his knees until they parked the car.

\---

Peter seemed to relax a whole lot once he got out of the car, since it meant he didn't have to sit still any longer. There was a smile on his face, his movements were carefree, and though Charles didn't know how much of it was faked to hide the insecurity, it was an improvement, a good thing. 

Maybe Erik would get some of that lighter mood.

Charles lead them to the store, the biggest one around, and while Erik was getting the shopping cart, Charles said to Peter: "Ororo told me to look after you."

Peter laughed, not meeting his eyes. "Of course she did."

"She only told me because she cares about you."

"I know. I'm not mad at her", Peter said, but didn't dive any further with this conversation. Charles let it drop.

Erik came back, though he probably didn't want to. "Let's go."

He seemed to fully believe that the faster they were, the sooner this would be over.

Charles was confident that no matter how quick they, or Peter, were, they would stay here just as long as needed.

 _'This is your chance'_ , Charles told Peter. _'Use it.'_

"Yeah, yeah", Peter said out loud, shaking his head for a moment. Then he lifted his head and bounced on his feet a couple of times, his eyes big as he smiled to both of them. "Remember, you own me an ice cream."

"We'll keep that in mind", Charles promised, though he knew Peter had meant to say it to Erik. 

Peter was cool about it. Even if Erik didn't answer. "Let's go."

He walked a few steps ahead of them, but soon came back, so it was clear that they were in the same group, together in there. Just like the other one thousand and two families that had come there after the parents got out of work, kids from school. 

"Now, behave, both of you", Charles warned with a grin. "No shoplifting, no metal-lifting."

"Guess we don't have a choice, with you wheeling around and keeping your eyes and mind on us." Peter chuckled awkwardly. "Imagine what would have happened if you hadn't come."

Erik looked uncomfortable. Charles couldn't imagine how uncomfortable he actually felt. Or how in the hell did he think this was supposed to be a date. 

Though, Peter giving him all those smirks and smiles probably didn't help a bit. But Charles liked the smiling Peter more than the quiet and anxious one he had met in the car.

"Imagine that", Charles said, giving both of them a smile. 

Peter jumped around, ran here and there and everywhere. Still, he stayed close to them, using his speed so it looked like he didn't take a single step away from Charles and Erik.

Erik said nothing. He stayed close to Charles, kept as far away as Peter as possible, avoided eye contact with both of them.

Charles felt bad for Peter. Peter, who had no idea where Erik's behavior came from. That it had nothing to do with Peter being a bad person or a bad son candidate.

It was all because of Erik's stubborn imagination.

But, luckily, Peter was so excited (and nervous) he didn't even seem notice Erik's smileless face anymore. 

"Why do guys you think they advertise toilet paper?" he asked, marching around he shelves full of paper. He tossed two giant packages into the cart. "I mean, everybody needs it anyway, right? They should be advertising more important stuff, like... like every cereal in the world. I'd like to know my options with those, and it's not like I can come here every day to check. I mean, I can, because I'm fast and stuff, but I don't bother."

Charles didn't have a chance to answer.

"How much spaghetti you think we need?" Peter continued. There were four bags of spaghetti already. "Hey, can I have chocolate? Or like, at least some to take back to Ororo? I keep eating the ones she hides in her room. She noticed once, and I'd rather not get caught again. Oh, oh, and potato chips, there's never enough potato chips. We can get enough to all of the kids. They'll love us."

Before anyone noticed, their cart was full of chocolate, all kinds of it, and a dozen bags of potato chips. Among some other stuff.

"What about you, Erik?" Peter slowed down, his voice unsure. But just slightly. "You like chocolate? Or french fries!" There were now two bags of frozen french fries in their cart. "Though, I bet you two are more fancy food type of guys."

Peter kept talking, Erik kept looking away, not answering to anything Peter said.

Charles found it rather rude. And sad. He understood Erik felt awkward, but he should have some manners. He should say something to Peter. Anything.

"I've offered Peter a job at the school", Charles told Erik. It probably sounded like he was talking about a puppy that he had trained to sit down and to roll over and to play dead, and now he was sure that the puppy was better at everything than any other puppy ever. "He'd make a fine teacher, don't you think?"

Charles was very proud of that puppy. He wished Erik would be, too.

"Oh", Erik managed, then turned to talk to Peter, only after Charles gave him a look saying _'Please, talk to him, will you. Now.'_   "What would you like to teach?"

Surprised, Peter almost walked into a huge pile of fruit.

Oh no, wait. He actually did. And for a millisecond, there was watermelons and apples all over the floor.

Peter picked them up before many noticed.

"I -I don't know, man", said Peter, scared but beaming, giving Charles a quick smile after recovering his encounter with the fruits. "I mean, I can't really teach them how to plat video games or how to pickpocket, and if I'd try to get them to do sports, they'd be too slow for me and I'd get bored and just give them all A's to make them go home."

Silence. Charles kept staring Erik.

"How about music?" Erik asked, not out of curiosity, but to make Charles happy. And Charles was happy, and he was sure Peter was, too. "You like music, don't you?"

"Yeah." Peter grinned. "Yeah, dude, I do. But I don't know how to play anything. I did play drums as a kid, but Mom got pretty sick of it pretty fast. So that's that."

Erik was going to leave it there, but Charles wasn't going to let their bonding time end just yet.

_'More.'_

Charles felt that had Erik been a five-year-old, he would have curled up on the ground, crying _I don't want to!_

_'Why are you making me do this, Charles?'_

_'You need to be nice to him.'_

_'No I don't.'_

_'Yes, you do.'_ Charles looked at him. _'Please. Just this once, if it's that awful for you.'_

Erik looked away. _'Fine.'_   "Can you sing?"

"Not a single note", Peter told him. "But I haven't really tried. My Mom is a horrible singer, so I thought I'd be too. I thought it best to save the world from that suffering, you know, me being such a pain in the ass already."

"I'm sure you'd learn rather quickly to play something", Erik said.

 _'Good',_ said Charles into his head. _'Keep going.'_

"Like a guitar."

"Really?" Peter was looking so intensely into Erik's eyes he simply couldn't ignore him anymore. 

"With your speed?" Erik tried to smile. It didn't go well. "Sure. If you'll have the patience."

"We'll see about that." Peter laughed. "But I'd sure like to try."

"A band club to compete with Erik's motorists." Charles chuckled, then said to Peter: "Erik is actually a magnificent singer. He could help you get started with the kids, and maybe teach you as well."

_'Traitor.'_

Charles laughed 

"That'd be awesome!" Peter said. But after that they all let the silence take over.

For a few seconds. 

"Well this has been real fun." Peter dropped the last sack of potatoes into the cart. With him running around it hadn't taken them long to gather everything (and a little more than) they had in the list. Even though Charles didn't think Peter had even seen the list in the first place. "We should do this again. Maybe next time we could go to IKEA. Even more fun. You could buy anything you want, and then I would help you to build it, yeah?"

Charles smiled."I do need a new bookshelf."

Erik didn't seem excited, other than excited to get out of there. 

Charles wasn't going to let them go this easily, of course.

"Now, excuse me", he said. "I need to go to the little wheelchair men's room. I'll be right back."

Erik's eyes were desperate. "You need help?"

"No, Erik, I do not need help, and you know it. You two stay here, I'll be right back."

He didn't stay for complaints. 

He got them anyway.

 _'Please, don't go, Charles",_ begged Erik's thoughts as Charles turned around and went.

_'I'm afraid I really need to, my friend. You'll be fine.'_

With that, Erik accepted his fate and stayed next to the many grocery bags they had put down on the ground, making sure they were between him and Peter.

Peter's voice was loud in Charles' head:  _'DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE ME, SIR. I THOUGHT ORORO TOLD YOU TO LOOK AFTER ME!'_

_'She did.'_

This had been Ororo's idea, after all. Charles himself wasn't even sure if there was a single toilet in there, let alone one for wheelchair users.  But a few minutes behind the corner would do just fine.

 _'Your chance.'_  Charles didn't turn to look at Peter, but he did smile to himself. _'Use it.'_

And so he left the two men to stand there, alone. He could only hope that neither of them would run away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my favorite typo while writing this was "Gid ficking samn it."   
> thought it was worth sharing
> 
> Thank you for reading! ^^ and for all your awesome comments! :D


	15. Chance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "concentrate on finishing this fic"   
> well, that's going great, isn't it
> 
> im so sorry you had to wait! i really want to write and finish this fic (and hopefully get into writing new ones!) but i've been pretty stressed out with school and work and then i got sick and im better now but still so awfully busy and i have absolutely no time to do anything and this sucks and i just
> 
> *retreats from life to watch anime under a blanket with a massive headache, hugging kittens and wishing i had more chocolate*
> 
> so it might take a while until the next one as well
> 
> but let's enjoy this one first

Charles couldn't go to the toilet by himself. Not if it didn't have the equipment they had in the mansion. Erik knew this for a fact.  

If the man couldn't get himself into the sofa on his own, how the fuck was he supposed to manage in a place like a public toilet? If there even was one to begin with.

No, Charles would much rather just wait and suffer until they got home. So why wouldn't he now? Why would he want to bully Erik like this?

Because now Erik was stuck with Peter, and things were awful. Not only was Erik anxious to get their recently bought groceries into the fridge, he was also more than ready to get rid of Peter for the day.

Erik felt like slapping himself. Even he knew it wasn't fair to think like this, not when the kid had done nothing wrong or anything (too) inappropriate to him. Or to anyone. It was just Erik's personal... feelings about him.

He didn't dislike Peter, but he'd much rather not hang out with him more than five minutes a day. It was emotionally exhausting and uncomfortable, with all the unspoken things between them.

But least they didn't need to talk. Didn't need to say a word. They could be in silence. 

That was all Erik could ask for.

But then again, you didn't always get the things you asked for.

"Shit", Peter said from behind the bags, after less than ten seconds of the well deserved silence.

Erik could have ignored him. He wanted to. 

He wasn't sure why he didn't. "What?"

"We forgot the milk."

"Then run to get some."

Peter pointed at the direction of the so-called toilet. "Charles has our money."

Erik tried his pockets, but found nothing. "Right." 

So they really were stuck. Here. Alone. As long as Charles wanted. For whatever reason.

And here Erik had been thinking Charles would be on his side. 

Erik would remember this.

Peter laughed. "He should have gone before we left. I mean, that's what my Mom would say, anyway."

Erik answered as shortly as he could, using as few words as possible. 

"Mmh."

"And the ice cream", Peter remembered. "Damn, man, I just wanted some ice cream, you know. Hey, you think they have an ice cream shop around here somewhere? Not that I could run there now, we still don't have any money and I don't think you two would appreciate me finding some extra cash form some lady's purse. Not that I'd do that even if you weren't around. I still have some dignity and principles. _No lady-robbing_ is one of those. But yeah, the ice cream. Would be nice. Yeah."

Wow, he sure was fixed on ice cream. Somehow it didn't surprise Erik, though. It seemed that once Peter set his mind on something, he grabbed on it as tight as his flying concentration skills let him.

Erik had to admit it was a rather fine quality in him.

Now there was a good two seconds pause, while Peter stopped to take a breath between his words.

"Thanks for the music-teaching-idea-thing by the way." He was sincere, but Erik guessed he was just keeping up the talk to fill the empty air around them. "Really. Like, I never really thought about it but hey, maybe it could work. Would be much funnier than just studying and, like, being a student, right?"

"I guess."

That was all Erik was willing to chat, and so the silence tried to fall over them once more. But, of course, it didn't last for too long. And this time, Peter's words were worse than ever.

"Listen, dude", he said to the bags. If there had been a hint of relaxed cheerfulness in him, it was all gone. "I...I think he left us here alone for a reason."

Oh, Erik knew. He knew Charles wanted to mess with them both, but he still didn't quite understand why. Why did he want to give poor Peter false hope, to give him this "chance" to confess to Erik?

What was there for any of them, expect feelings that would soon be hurt.

He said nothing. Instead, he raised his eyebrow at Peter who was so calm it was horrifying. Or, not calm, just motionless, creepy. He kept still, staring at the space in between them, just standing there with his hands deep in his pockets, much like Erik himself. Which was even more creepy.

Peter took a deep breath. "Because I got something to tell to you."

_Come on, Charles._

"I-"

"Peter", Erik interrupted him.

Maybe it was selfish from him not wanting to hear Peter's words. Still, he told himself he was protecting the kid from humiliation by not letting him say it out loud.

 _Let's get this over with._ The sooner he would say this and put an end to it, the faster Charles would come back, and they would go home and make dinner and live their lives in peace without worrying about young men falling in love with them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

He had to say it. He just needed to ignore the pain in Peter's eyes.

"You're a great man, Peter, and I'm sure you'll make someone very happy." Erik tried to smile. It was no use, for Peter wasn't looking at him. His eyes were completely shut. "But I'm not going to be involved in that."

"Oh", was the only thing that come out of Peters mouth, just as if he'd just taken a breath.

Erik said nothing. He waited.

Peter opened his eyes, not yet able to look at Erik. But he managed to say: "Yeah." He swallowed. "Sure." He nodded. "Okay."

Erik felt like patting Peter's back. No need to feel so down about a little crush on your teacher. It was pretty usual, actually. He didn't blame Peter for it.

All this Erik wanted to tell him. But it felt wrong to belittle Peter's disappointment right away. 

So, instead, he simply said: "It's nothing personal."

Peter nodded once again. "Yeah..." Slowly, he let his glowing eyes meet Erik's. "Yeah. It's cool I- I just thought you'd like to know."

Erik looked away. "I already knew."

Erik could sense the surprised look in Peter's face. "Really?"

"Yeah. I guessed it some time ago." That didn't feel like enough, so he continued: "Don't feel bad. You didn't make a fool of yourself."

Peter rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I did."

"Okay, maybe a little bit." Erik tried smiling again. "But it's okay, I get that you're nervous. I would be too, if I were in your shoes."

Peter made a face. Erik couldn't figure if it said 'yeah, right' or 'thanks for not flipping out'.

Then Peter shook his head and frowned. "Why didn't you say anything? It would have been a lot easier, you know. For me and for you. And for all the people I whined about this."

"Because it didn't matter." Erik knew he now was acting more stiff than needed. He took this way too seriously. He wanted to make this easy to Peter, he really did, but while feeling so uneasy, so awkward about this whole thing, it was rather difficult. 

He went on, just to make things clear: "I don't find you attractive in that way, so I didn't think it necessary to tell you."

Peter's frown found a whole new level of deep. And his voice found a whole new level of high pitch as he asked: _"What?"_

\---

"....What?" Erik repeated Peter's question, not nearly as confused as Peter felt right now at this very moment.

Over all, though, Peter didn't feel as horrible as he had thought. He had excepted this, hadn't really dared to dream that Erik, after finding out the big news, would actually be jumping up and down like the happy bunny he clearly was not, embracing Peter and calling him his beloved son.

No, Peter had never anticipated much. Maybe that was why this had been (and still was) so hard. Yet, it didn't crush him as intensely as he would have thought. Maybe because he had been panicking about this for so long. Maybe he was now somewhat numb to Erik's coldness.

Or something. 

Still, he was going to get any more intense feelings, like guilt or second hand embarrassment, he would explode. And it would be ugly. _Bloody ugly_ , as Peter imagined Charles saying.

Back to the point.

The point being:

_Attractive?_

_What the hell?_

The way Erik looked at Peter, it wasn't disappointment. More like pity, but even that wasn't the appropriate kind of pity this situation required.

Something was not right here.

So he had to ask: "Why would you find me attractive?"

"I just told you I don't." Erik crossed his arms, just to uncross them right after, as if he was afraid it would appear too aggressive or defensive. "And besides, I'm way older than you. It wouldn't work."

_What in the ever loving f-_

"But, I mean, that's exactly why it _does work_ ", Peter said. "How would it even be possible if you were my age?"

The wrinkle between Erik's eyes was extremely deep. "What are you talking about?"

Wow, okay, now they were in the same level of confusioness. It made Peter feel slightly better.

"What are _you_ talking about?"

This time Erik kept his arms crossed. "I asked you first."

Just to get some self confidence, Peter mirrored his movement. "Oh, we're going there?"

Erik obviously didn't feel like laughing. "I'm serious. I'm not interested. I'm sorry, but you just need to let it go."

With all the shitty feelings already all used up, Peter found himself angry. 

Rude, how very rude, and not nice at all for Erik to say that. He could at least try to understand what this whole thing meant to Peter. At least try.

Peter could hear Ororo's strict voice telling him that, no matter how he wanted to please his father, he didn't need to listen to this.

"I get it", Peter told Erik, not too mad, but not too far from it. "And yeah, I can get out of your life if you so wish. I thought you might think that. But still, don't tell me you're not 'interested'. Or that I should just 'let it go'. That's a whole lot of crap, because I can't stop it, and neither can you. Whether you like it or not."

"Why not?" Erik wasn't at all angry. Actually, he looked sad. Sad for Peter. "Just give it time."

 _"Oh my god."_ Peter wanted to kick a wall. If the man felt pity for him, he shouldn't make it clear he didn't give a fuck. "I've given it all the time! All the damn time I've had in my life! And even that time can't unmake you my dad!"

Erik just stared right past him, his eyes suddenly wide.

Peter sighed and drummed his fingers against his jeans to calm down. In front of him, Erik looked like he was nowhere near calm, if he had ever been. 

"It just doesn't work that way -" Peter said, but his words were lost under Erik's loud voice.

"Your _what?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ....i'm horrible, i know. but who doesn't love a nice little clifthanger, especially when it'll probably take me another month to get the next chapter done
> 
> my brain is all fucked up. my native is Finnish, i'm studying Japanese atm (and i should be studying Swedish but i ain't got time for that rn) and now i'm trying to write in English.. Hope i did well enough :"D 
> 
> the next chapter will be less angsty. Or at least i hope it'll turn out that way. And I miss Ororo. She'll be there.
> 
> Again, thank you so much for your comments! They keep making me so happy! ^^
> 
> Thank you for reading! ♡♡♡


	16. For

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyyy sorry for the wait! i’m doing my best but as i may have mentioned somewhere, i’m busier than santa claus at christmas...  
> anyway, i need to add one more chapter! (even though it almost messed up the thing i had going on with the chaper titles..) i had a scene i was going to include here buuut this would have become too long (aka you wouldn’t have gotten it for another few weeks) so yeah, a bit more story coming~

"My what what?”

Peter’s angry frown was calming down but Erik could see that the happy feelings were still far away.

_Your what?_

It had been an useless question. Erik had heard him. Loud and clear. He had gone through all the possible meanings for each word in those few milliseconds. He was pretty sure he knew what the kid had said. 

But.

He needed to hear it again.

"What did you just say?"

Peter snorted and looked away. "What part of it? You know, you need to be more specific than that, I talk a lot of shit and-"

“Work with me, Peter!"

Peter calmly watched as Erik not so calmly kicked a grocery bag. The food and toilet paper inside weren’t so glad about it, but this was better than Erik kicking his way through the nearest wall using the power of his frustration.

“You haven’t given me a lot to work with!” Peter answered with the amount of annoyance Erik knew was perfectly acceptable. “Man, calm down and tell me your problem.”

Erik stared at him. Peter was sick of his behavior, so sick of it that he had the courage to show it. Erik couldn’t ignore that.

Erik wasn’t angry. Well, he was, but only with himself at this point. He tried, he really tried his best not to freak out. Peter didn’t deserve it.

_Breathe. In._

_'Don't worry. It's okay.'_

Erik wasn't sure if he had imagined Charles' voice in his mind or not, but either way, it was what he needed. 

_And out._

“You said I…” Erik looked for the words, though he didn’t need to. Peter’s voice had left a permanent echo in the back of his head. “You said _time can’t unmake me your dad?_ ”

Peter’s face was serious and hard, but he still didn’t _seem_ to be afraid of Erik. Which was always a good thing. “I did.”

“When did...what _did_  make me your ‘dad’?" Erik said, adding stylish quotation marks into his stupid question. This situation was so weird Erik didn’t care how weird he himself looked. Or sounded. Better weird that furious.

“Oh, you know.” Erik was sure Peter’s brain would soon explode with all that sarcasm and attitude raging inside of it. “I don’t know about the actual facts about fetuses and pregnancies and shit like that, but I’m pretty sure _you_  made yourself my dad when you and my mom did the -”

“Are you sure it was me?” Erik interrupted.

The kid could be mistaken. Surely Erik would know if this person in front of him was his…

He would, right?

Peter snorted again. "How many metalbender men you think there are? And why do you ask, anyway? You didn't give a shit when you first found out.”

“What, no!" Erik shook his head. “I'm only finding out now."

Whatever it was that Peter wanted to hear, this wasn't it.

A little girl walking past them was startled by Peter's _"What?!"_ and dropped the ice cream she had been eating.

\---

Peter gasped so loud everyone around them, including the girl who now ran to her mom crying, felt his shock. He pointed his finger at Erik. “You said you knew!"

"I didn't know _that!_ "

Nope, that wasn't a good enough answer. "But you said!"

"I said wrong!"

No matter how much he wanted, Peter wasn’t going to argue with that statement. What was the point?

It was Peter’s turn to consider running through the wall. Of course this couldn’t be as simple as Peter had already begun to hope. Of course there had to be a misunderstanding. Of course they were screaming, again, in the middle of a freaking grocery store. 

Peter wanted to throw up.  He was sick of making a total fool of himself.

But then again, in this situation, two fools were required.

So Peter asked: "Then what did you know?"

He hit the right nerve. Erik went red, but not the kind of angry read you’d expect. No, this was embarrassment. Peter knew it too well.

Erik tried to clear his throat. "Doesn't matter."

“Oh, no no”, Peter said. He wasn't going to let Erik get away so easily. “I want to know! I have a _right_ to know.”

But it was clear Erik wasn't going to talk about it.

Fine then. Time to play Sherlock.

As the last couple of days repeated in his head, Peter thought of the possibilities. What could one get out from an overly enthusiastic person who wanted to hang around with you all the time, who gave you all the attention and insisted you’d do the same for them? What had Erik thought about him being all awkward and weird around him?

Peter remember what Erik had said about not finding Peter attractive.

Well. In that case, Peter could think of one thing. And he couldn’t believe it hadn’t even crossed his mind before now.

“Oh my god”, he said out loud, taking a step back from the man. “You didn’t think I had a crush on you or anything?”

He took Erik’s long silence as a “yes.”

“Ew, man!” Peter tried to end his words with a chuckle, so the rejection wouldn’t sound too harsh. "Ew, man, no!"

"I never  _believed_ that", Erik tried, obviously lying, still read as the ketchup in one of their bags. "I didn't actually think you-"

“I mean, come on, man!" Peter went on, ignoring Erik's every word. "You’re like, much older than me!”

“My point exactly!” 

“But you thought - ew!” Peter laughed, even though (and maybe because) he was this still a nervous wreck. This was crazy. "You have a great imagination, I give you that."

"I didn't need imagination", Erik said. "You were all over me!"

"I just wanted to spend some time with you, all innocent and friendly. I wanted to try that Father-Son quality time", Peter pointed out. “I was 'all over you', only because you’re my dad!”

“I didn’t know!”

Fair enough.

"I was going to tell you", Peter told, impressed by how long they had gone without addressing the real topic of this conversation. “And now I have. Kinda. We can continue all this when we get back. Don’t want you messing the whole grocery store with your angry metal throwing.”

“I’m not angry”, Erik claimed.

“Dude, you’re angry, like, all the time.”

“Not _all_ the time”, Erik mumbled and glanced at the groceries. At the direction Charles had wheeled long time ago.

Sure, he wasn’t angry, Peter could see that. But there was no knowing if he would be. 

Peter shook his head. He really just wanted to get back into his own room, maybe talk to Ororo and get himself together before giving the Life of a Dadless Child-Peter -speech. "It's cool, man. Let's talk later."

“No, I want to know", Erik said. "Now. Tell me everything.”

Peter hesitated.

Erik tried to meet his eyes. “Please?”

Oh, fine.

_Fine._

What else could Peter do? So long had he waited for this, feared. And yet, he had no idea what to say. But they were here. They were talking. This was the chance. No going back.

That, and the fact that Ororo would totally kill him if he'd chicken out now.

“Fine.” He sighed. “Okay.”

So he told Erik the story Mom had told him once upon a time. It was your basic Dad Left Before Knowing Your Mom Was Pregnant -kind of a deal. Peter made it simple and quick, no need to dwell in the “where’s my Dad” -phases in Peter's childhood. He made Erik know he had been relatively happy even with one parent. Though, it wouldn’t have hurt to get a card. Or something.

And maybe he wouldn’t have ended up becoming a professional shoplifter if Erik had been there to kick his butt when he did something wrong. And maybe he wouldn't still live in his Mom's basement, if Erik had been there to kick some pride in him.

But it could be worse. The point was, Peter had found Erik. He had moved to live in the same house as him. He had finally told him. And even though he didn't have any actual proof, like pictures or letters, he was one hundred percent sure Erik was the man. He wished Erik would believe him.

And Erik did, he understood and believed him. Though he seemed to blame himself quite a bit for leaving, telling Peter he had no idea of what he had left behind.

Peter forgave him. There was no point in being mad at what he had done in the past.

And hey, at least Erik did remember Peter’s Mom! Her name, if not her face.

Peter thought about how he hadn’t realized who Erik was back when they had first met.

“How cool that would've been though, huh?” he said, nervously laughing. “Breaking my Dad out of prison. I mean, it's still cool and I still did that, but like, if I  had known, I would have high-fived you or something.”

Erik smiled, eyes fixed on Peter’s face the whole time he listened. It was a good sign.

“Yeah”, he commented. “ You totally should have.”

“You would've left me hanging”, Peter said, but the thought of the situation made him feel warm. Maybe they weren't all hopeless.

Still, they weren't done yet. Or, he wasn't. “Anyway. I’m sorry.”

 Erik frowned. “ _You’re_ sorry?”

“Yep." Peter looked down. The bags must have loved the attention the two had given them. "I'm obnoxious, stupid and pathetic. And you're stuck with me as a son." 

_Not to mention the fact that you just lost your perfect and beloved family. I’m absolutely nothing compared to them._

Peter let out a rather sad chuckle. "Wouldn’t wish that to my worst enemies.”

_’He doesn’t think that way, Peter.'_

Peter turned around, but Charles was nowhere to be seen.

_’WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?’_

_’Now, now, Peter.'_ Peter could imagine Charles grinning. _'Is that the way to talk to your step dad?’_

He sighed out loud.  _‘One dad at a time, please.’_

“Peter, I honestly don’t feel that wa- what is it?” Erik asked when noticing the weird look on Peter’s face.

Peter waved his hand. “Your boyfriend is reading my mind and messing with us.”

“So nothing new.” Erik looked around for clues of Charles’ whereabouts. “But seriously, Peter, I don't think you're stupid or pathetic, and I gladly have you as my - _Wait,_ how do you about me and-?”

“Everyone knows.” Peter laughed. He didn't care that Erik had cut his own sentence, he already knew what he had been saying. And it meant the world to him. But he could be all emotional later, when he was alone. “Everyone thinks you and the professor are a really cute couple. Some say hot, even. Don't worry about it.”

Erik didn’t laugh, but didn’t seem to flip out about it, either. “And you’re okay with it?”

“Sure.” Peter shrugged. “Though, I'd rather not think about how 'hot' you two are, but other than that, it's great. I’m all about that love and peace.”

Erik nodded slowly, a tiny smile creeping in the corner of his mouth. “Good.”

“And, you know”, Peter said. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you.” The smile was not a tiny one anymore. “Now. Should we go get him back from wherever he’s hiding and go home? I'm getting seriously hungry.”

“Yeah.” Peter answered his smile. “Yeah, same. Let’s do it.”

They picked up the bags and went to look for the (most likely fictional) little wheelchair men's room. They still had things to say, things ask and things to do, but for now, it was good. All good, for he now had a dad who actually knew he existed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed! i can’t really concentrate on anything rn so i hope this was good enough...
> 
> thank you for reading ^^


	17. Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi!! i’m still here!! 
> 
> sorry for not answering the comments in the last chapter! You still made me very happy and i appreciate every one of you ♡
> 
> who saw the change in the relationship tags? eh? eh? ok i'll just leave this chapter here and go back to hide in my cave. hope you enjoy

The boys didn’t take two steps before Charles emerged from the exact opposite direction where he had went. They both looked more confused than angry which was of course good. He smiled at them. "Took you two long enough."

"Oh, now you decide to show up", Erik snorted.

“You needed to sort things out”, Charles said and stopped right in front of them. He had two ice creams on his lap, slowly melting but still good. “And now was a good moment for that, don’t you think?” He gave the first ice cream to Peter who immediately grinned like sunshine and quickly thanked him.

“You knew all along”, Erik went on, ignoring the ice cream Charles was handing to him.

Charles was slightly hurt, but didn’t mind eating it himself in the end. “Of course I did.”

Erik frowned. “Why did you leave us? You could have stayed and, I don’t know, tell us earlier? Make this easier?”

"I thought we would have some fun”, Charles said, eating his ice cream innocently. He looked at Erik with wide eyes. Just to annoy him.

"This has not been fun, Charles!” Erik was getting angry. Charles had expected that to happen. “Look at the kid! You made him embarrass himself."

"To be fair, he did do that on his own”, Charles noted. Peter flushed, now standing behind Erik. Or rather, Erik standing in front of him.

" _Charles._ "

Charles smiled sweetly. "Well look at you, being all protective father already."

"I'm being a decent human being. For once in my life." Erik breathed heavily, his bright eyes serious. "So will you stop being an asshole. You own Peter an apology."

Peter, seemingly still very happy about his nearly eaten ice cream, shrugged. "It's fine, man."

Erik looked at Peter, anger dying down on his face as he met his eyes. “It’s not fine, kid. He shouldn’t have done that.”

Peter shrugged again. “Well, it’s done, isn’t it. It’s cool. It’s okay.”

"No, Erik is right”, Charles said before words could come out of Erik’s open mouth. He could play with Erik untill the end of the world, but Peter didn’t deserve any more of this. "One shouldn’t play with other one's feelings in any way. I should have told you Erik thought you fancied him the minute I found out - “

“Let’s not talk about that”, Erik said. Charles and Peter both chuckled at his embarrassed face.

“Anyway.” Charles turned to Peter. “I am sincerely sorry I caused you any harm, Peter."

"Don't forget the emotional trauma."

Charles watched Peter turn to look at his father, as if he couldn’t believe Erik had just said the thing Peter himself had probably been thinking.

Charles smiled apologetically at them. "That too."

"It's okay. Really”, Peter said, eyes staying on Erik for a while longer before looking back at Charles. “I'm not mad at you. I would have done the exact same thing. I appreciate your sense of humor, old man."

“I’m happy we understand each other, Peter.” Charles grinned, though he felt the urge to add that he wasn’t _that_ old. His newly grown hair only had some gray on it. You could hardly notice.

"Well, I'm still pissed”, Erik announced. “At Charles. Not you, Peter”, he added when Peter’s smile vanished from his face for a second.

Charles rolled even closer to Erik, picking up one of the grocery bags. "It's okay, darling", he told him gently. "I understand you're upset. I'll make it up to you later tonight."

"Oh, no you won't”, Erik mumbled, just before Peter shouted:

"Hey, what did I tell you about the sexy talk?"

"Actually, you didn't mention anything about "sexy talk"”, Charles pointed out, laughing.

"It was implied."

Charles kept smiling and pretending he hadn’t heard Peter. He told them to pick up the rest of the bags and, finally, head to the car.

The drive back was much less painful than the previous one.

“You need to embrace the responsibilities of a Dad-person”, Peter chatted from the back seat. “Let’s go watch baseball. You should take me to Disney World on my birthday. I promise to draw you the most awesome card on Father’s Day! You already know what we’ll do on Christmas? Also, can I have a puppy?”

“I have been a “Dad-person” before, Peter”, Erik said. This made Peter go stiff as he was reminded he wasn’t the only offspring Erik had ever had. But Erik, despite the slight hurt of the memories in his eyes, smiled and said: “Still, I’ve never had a son. As far as I know. And I’ve never given the “talk”, so this might be a wonderful opportunity to both of us.”

“Calm down, dude.” Peter chuckled awkwardly but visibly happy about Erik joking. “I think I’m good. Actually, if the music class thing won’t be a success I could totally be an official Talk Giver. I could walk around telling the kids to use condom and not to accept candy from older men. Or any creepy older person.”

“Now that I think about it, why is the age such a problem for you?” Erik asked.

Peter seemed to ask “What’s that supposed to mean?” but since Erik didn’t notice the look Peter gave to his neck, Charles translated Peter’s thoughts into Erik’s mind, for the sake of this interesting conversation. And to distract Peter from the idea of running around the house throwing condoms at students. Because Peter had already pictured himself stealing a bunch from the nearest store for this purpose. And the thievery wasn’t even the most questionable part of that plan.

Erik was happy to carry on. “Earlier you kept saying that I was too old for you. I mean, you’re right about that”, he added as Peter let out a weird noise. Erik didn’t let it embarrass him, he only smirked. “What I mean is that you are older than Ororo and you seem to be perfectly fine with that. She’s tough, but this rule goes both ways.”

It looked like Peter’s brain had to take an extra five seconds to process the sudden appearance of Ororo’s name.

“Well, she’s not _that much_ younger than me”, he murmured finally. Charles held his laughter. The poor boy looked like he was simply confused about being confused. “I mean, it’s only couple of years and it’s not like I could be his dad and - what does she got to do with this?”

Erik calmly waited for Peter’s speech to be over, and shrugged. He, too, was holding laughter, but he did much better job than Charles. “You guys seem close. I thought at first that she was jealous of me.”

Peter was trying to control his face. Charles found it rather adorable, watching him from the view mirror.

“Why would Ororo be jealous?” Peter asked, almost casually. 

Erik raised an eyebrow and glanced at him from the mirror. “You tell me.”

Charles was studying Peter’s mind. But before the boy’s thoughts could go into places it didn’t need to right now, as if he knew Charles was watching, Peter announced: “We’re seriously getting off topic here.”

Erik hid his smile, but Charles saw Peter had just enough time to recognize Erik’s face looking suspiciously similar to the grin Peter’s Mom had given him when she had found out he liked one of the girls in his class for the first time.

“Let’s talk about the puppy”, Peter decided and refused to answer to anything else for the rest of the drive.

 

\---

 

"So. You have a dad.”

"So I have a dad."

 “So.” Ororo moved on the couch, not concentrating on the movie playing on tv any more than Peter did. She turned her eyes to Peter. “You have a dad.”

“What’s up with you?” Peter asked, sounding a bit more rude that he intended. It made him feel a bit bad.

Still, she had been acting weird. Not meeting his eyes, even when looking at him. Moving uncomfortably every other minute since they had sat down. Not talking much.

He could be imagining it, though. He blamed Erik and his stupid comments about Ororo. He had made no sense. No sense. And if Ororo had been jealous it had been because they were friends. Erik had been right, they were close. Friends. Sure, Peter adored her. Loved her, even. She was great. A great friend, that was.

Right?

Fuck. In a situation like this, when he was annoyed and confused by his own brain, Peter usually went to Ororo for help. Now, however, he couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. Nope.

Though, if he talked with her he could ask if she actually had been jealous… And why.

“What’s up with _you?”_ , Ororo asked, frowning. Peter snapped back from his thoughts, hoping the redness wasn’t visible on his face. “You told me what happened, or at least that you told him and he didn’t freak out, but you don’t seem to want to talk more about it. Or about anything. You’re just quiet! And you’re never quiet, are you sure you don’t have a fever or something?”

She had a fair point. So Peter said nothing.

“And we could have just hanged out in the kitchen or in your room but noooo you wanted to watch this crappy movie on this tiny couch while the younglings”, she pointed vaguely at the few younger students avoiding their early bedtime in the corner of the living room, “won’t leave us be.”

“It’s not like they’re harassing us”, Peter noted. “And why do we need to be alone, anyway?”

She ignored him. She tried to find more comfortable way to sit. Again. Damn, this couch really was tiny. Very impractical in a house full of people.

Ororo sighed heavily. “Can you, like, shake your other leg, maybe?”

At first, Peter had no idea what she was talking about. Then he realized his right leg, the one brushing against Ororo’s left, was shaking uncontrollably, as his body parts tended to do when forced to stay still for too long.

“Oh. Sure.” He stopped his leg. His fingers started tapping at the armrest, annoying, but less harmful. “ Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“Why are you so angry?” Peter asked after a while of silence. Because neither of them was actually listening to the tv.

“I’m not angry”, she said in a voice Peter would have categorized as “angry”. “You’re just being weird. It's annoying. So stop it, will you.”

Peter stared at her. “I…”

“What did Erik _say_ to you to get you acting like that?”

Peter knew he couldn’t fool her for long. She would keep asking. He would forget to not to tell her at some point. That, or then Charles would go tell her, just to have some giggles. He seemed to be loving relationship drama a bit too much.

Besides, this wasn’t really that big of a deal. This wasn’t any kind of relationship drama. Peter just made it feel like it, somehow. And it was stupid.

Stupid.

“He said he thought you’d been jealous of him.”

Ororo looked as surprised as Peter had hoped. Then she laughed, loudly. “Why would I be jealous?”

“Exactly!”

The kids gave Peter mean looks as if he’d very rudely interrupted whatever they were doing with a bunch of stuffed animals. That was bullshit. Peter knew they weren’t playing but watching him and Ororo.

“I mean, why would I be jealous of your _dad?”_ Ororo thought out loud. 

“Why would you be jealous at all?” Peter asked.

Ororo smiled to tell him she didn’t really care, but Peter could see slight blush on her cheeks. “Why does it bother you so much?”

That was the exact question Peter himself was asking the universe right now. “I…”

“What did you talk about?” Ororo asked, seeing Peter didn’t find words. Or just to change the subject. “How did you tell him? What did he think of it? Damn it, Peter, just tell me what happened.”

Peter had avoided telling her the details. Even though the… misunderstanding had been Erik's mistake, Peter felt awkward about it. The whole thing had been stupid, but Peter believed Erik couldn’t have come up with it without any “prove”. And that meant Peter had been acting more than weird these couple of days. And telling Ororo about this would mean he admitted it.

It really didn’t matter what he thought, though. If Ororo wanted to know something, in the end, he’d tell her anything.

And, as expected, when he got to the part where he had found out Erik had thought he had a crush on him, Ororo screamed, laughed, hit his arm and shouted: “No!”

Peter let her laugh for a while, painfully aware of the children whispering to each other behind their toys. If it wasn’t for them, he would've actually enjoyed seeing Ororo so hysterical. Maybe tell a few jokes to keep the laughter coming.

Ororo said something about not being surprised about Erik's guess, since Peter had been rather silly around him. Peter was pretty sure he would hear about this for the rest of his life. He hurried to end his story.

“...And then they told me I can’t have a puppy, we got home, I ate spaghetti with them and then came to get you here. The end.”

Ororo clapped her hands slowly, smiling while still laughing a little. And then, out of absolutely nowhere, she leaned to give him a light kiss on the cheek.

Immediately, the kids in the corner giggled. Peter, after recovering from his blushing and the urge to run a few laps around the house and it’s gardens, turned his eyes at them. It was a fantastic opportunity to avoid facing the burning feeling in his stomach.

“Stacy”, he said slowly to only one of the kids, because he didn’t remember the names of the other two. “Shouldn’t you and your friends be in bed?”

“You’re up”, Stacy stated. Her friends agreed.

“We’re older”, said Ororo.

“And we’ll tell the professor if you won’t go”, Peter added.

“We’re not afraid of him!” Stace declared.

“Good.” Charles laughed. They all turned to stare at him as he suddenly emerged into the living room. “You shouldn’t be. But I’m afraid you do need to obey me. So off to bed you go now. Chop-chop.”

“Them too!” One of the kids pointed at Peter and Ororo.

“They can stay up a bit longer”, Charles said, winking at Peter who really wished he hadn’t just done so. Grinning at the two of them, the Convenient Charles™ guided the small ones out.

“So”, Peter said to Ororo after the others had left them alone. “That was new."

“What was?” Ororo asked innocently.

“The…” Peter tapped his finger on the still warm spot Ororo’s lips had touched. He knew a kiss on the cheek was a pretty platonic thing, but Ororo wasn't a kind of a girl who would just go kissing people for nothing. Even her friends.

She only smiled. "A good new?"

"Yeah."

It was the least awkward awkward silence Peter had experienced in his life.

"Not that I'm complaining", he said after enjoying staring at Ororo’s beaming face for a few minutes more. "But just to make clear. What was that all about?"

“It was just a tiny kiss, Peter!” Ororo laughed.

“Was it, though?” Peter loved the fact he was getting his confidence back.

“I don’t know.” She tilted her head, facing his confidence. "I'm proud of you.” She quickly kissed his other cheek, like she was trying it again to see if it had the same effect as the last one. “And I'm happy to hear the end of your complaining."

Peter smiled, wishing she would try to kiss him again. He’d be ready. "So talking to my dad made me a man worthy of you?"

She pushed his shoulder. "Shut up."

"Don't you think I'm a bit too old for you?" he teased, though he was genuinely interested to hear her answer.

"Shut up."

"I need to step up my game. Wouldn't mind you being proud of me a bit more often."

She giggled silently and leaned her temple on his shoulder. "Shut up."

Peter smirked. "Make me."

Ororo placed her hand carefully over his mouth.

"That's not what i meant”, Peter laughed against her palm.

"Oh, I know.” She didn’t move her hand. “Don't make me regret being proud of you."

The movie ended, though neither of them noticed. He had no idea how they had ended up here, but he didn’t care. Her hand was sticky from the popcorn they had eaten during the first fifteen minutes of the movie, but he didn’t mind. He’d be willing to keep her palm against his mouth for the rest of his life, if it meant she would look that happy for the rest of her life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so it's been a while and i can't remember if ororo has kissed his cheek earlier. If she had, my bad. From now on, this was the first time. yay. also i have no idea how old ororo is supposed to be but she looks younger so yeah
> 
> One more chapter to go! i'd love to write even more tbh but i don't know if i'll have the time.. maybe at some point next year i'll write a separate fic about peter and ororo's adventures
> 
> Hope you'll have a wonderful new year!!


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